There Was No Plan
Saturday’s plan was simple – there was no plan. No planes, trains, buses or taxis – just floating or wading with an adult beverage. There were a few decisions to be made. Do we hang at the beach or the pool? Do we have cocktails or beer? The answers were easy; we do it all.
Our spacious 1 bedroom suite at the Renaissance was phat. Wendy got us upgraded through a friend named Phillip. The hotel puts on a complimentary breakfast buffet of such grandeur, you can satiate yourself through dinner – AND make your own Bloody Mary’s – insane!
After getting our fill, we headed to the beach; it is on the hotel property. Off went the cover-ups, down went our gear and in the water went our bodies. Wow. The water was warm, yet refreshing. We just looked at each other and said, “Oh yeah” smiling and giggling – a total sense of utter joy and contentment filled our souls. How lucky are we?
As lovely as the beach was, we wanted to move to the pool. We were doin’ it all, remember? We chose the very shallow end that was about 18” deep to just soak and drink beer. We chatted with our new friend from the night before – Charles. He’s a great conversationalist; he’s very funny and has hair that never gets flat even when it’s wet!
The afternoon melted away in a pleasant humid haze. Slowly we migrated to the deeper end of the pool. By this time, Lee had joined us. Submerged to our shoulders, we watched the somewhat slow pace of the hotel staff preparing for the wedding our new friends would be attending. It was about 4pm; the ceremony started at 5pm, but there was still plenty to do – or so it seemed to us.
Charles left to shower-up for the wedding and Lee bought us another round. We got to know Lee a little better. Seems Lee is a diabetic philanthropist prone to panic attacks; he cried like a baby when he proposed to his girlfriend. Who knew?
Pretty soon we saw people, clearly guests of the wedding, heading over to the take their seats at the area designated for the ceremony. Lissa said, “Lee, don’t you think you should leave and get ready for the wedding?” With an “Oh shit!” he jumped out of the pool and ran off.
We wanted to see the bride as did many other folks at the pool. We all found comfortable perches to watch guests arrive, comment on our favorite fashions and make snarky comments about a few fashion “misses”.
Soon, the procession of barefoot bridesmaids appeared; they wore flowing sea foam green dresses. The bride, Nadia, while lovely made a poor choice in her gown for an outdoor ceremony and reception. Layer upon layer of tulle burdened her walking – she could only inch along with the assistance of a hotel staffer who walked behind her with armfuls of Nadia’s train. Isn’t that the job of the bridesmaids? Where were they? They were already seated, perfectly coiffed and appropriately dressed for the 96 degree weather.
The photographer clicked away at Nadia as she painstakingly shuffled down the aisle with a Marriott employee. Oh, the fond memories she will have of that day as she gazes upon photos of her and…what was that Marriott chick’s name anyway?
