Eric & Kara's Wedding Day -- August 28, 2010 (photo by Robert Hornak)

Sixty years ago my father married my mother and the Weber family became conjoined with the McKenna family. My 4 siblings and I enjoyed many good times and have scores of memories with Aunts, Uncles, and 35 first cousins. Today with many of these cousins having married, having kids and grandkids, the direct family members number well over 100 and probably closer to 200. That is quite an accumulation of family stemming from a single wedding 60 years ago.

Thirty-one years ago, my older sister Eileen married Gary and the Cota-Weber union was formed. This past weekend their oldest of four children, my nephew Eric, married Kara. The cycle starts anew. The Cota-Hornak era has officially begun.

The events of this weekend got me thinking that marriage is much more than a ceremony joining a man and woman. It’s much greater than a Wedding Day on the calendar when 2 people commit to each other for a lifetime. Marriage is the joining of families. Weber-McKenna, Cota-Weber, and now Cota-Hornak. The decision of 2 individuals in love unites entire families forever.

I count myself fortunate as the vast majority of my family members genuinely like each other – especially impressive in an era where families divorce, blend and re-invent themselves continuously.

I believe that my siblings, their families, and I still all still love and enjoy seeing each other because we have followed a few basic principles that are based on respect.

Does your extended family observe a tradition of respect for their newlyweds?

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Where is their gumption ???

 

Since I travel quite often, it’s not unusual to find myself walking (or rushing) through airports. Sometimes it feels like a cattle drive. The masses dictate the pace. Walking faster, or even navigating a path around the slower travelers, frequently isn’t an option.

There is one passageway that typically offers an escape route for us impatient airport pedestrians – the escalator or stairs. When I approach the choice of the escalator or stairs, I almost always opt for the stairs. The stairs provide me 2 benefits: A little extra cardiovascular activity and a chance to move at my own pace. While I don’t consider myself overly claustrophobic, I do find standing still on a slowly ascending (or descending) stairway without the option of taking a step in any direction to be something that just drives me crazy.

Why? I’ll try to explain …

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Dustin Johnson violated a rule when he grounded his club in a bunker.

In my last post I mentioned the PGA Golf Championship and how it ended in drama for Dustin Johnson. The short story is that Johnson was called on a rule infraction and penalized 2 strokes. The infraction and resulting penalty effectively eliminated him from the opportunity to win the championship. For any who might be interested, a more detailed account of what happened resides here  and more opinions on the matter can be found here.  I was watching as it happened, so I understood exactly what had occurred. My first thought was you’ve got to be kidding. My next thought was this is so unfair. Finally I thought what a stupid rule.

After the dust settled (no pun intended), and I fully understood the reasoning of the rules official, and I witnessed the reaction and heard the words of Dustin Johnson, I realized that it all comes down to this: Rules are Rules!  And life isn’t always fair … And you can’t always get want you want … And as Forrest Gump said, “It happens!” 

So what can we take away from all of this?

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