My own personal "THANKS!"...

Now that the Guzman-Puentes wedding has come and gone, I would like to dedicate this post to my brother-in-law, Jabier Hernandez, for everything he has done for our family. Especially with the hand he had in the wedding last week. As I take time to reflect on what an awesome event it was and how much detail and planning went into it all for several long months via my dear sister, Josie, who served as wedding coordinator, it (wedding) still needed more glue, per se, in the very end in order to meld it all together and to keep it that way. Jabier was that glue. Some people are built in such a rare manner that they can see the need for their assistance right away and without needing to be asked for help, they quickly volunteer it. That truly defines my brother-in-law Jabier; he was quick to assist with Erica & Nick's wedding last Saturday. Not once did he complain during the entire weekend starting with the set up on Friday and ending with the clean up on Sunday. Whatever was needed of him he did and he was happy to do it. He even assisted Sara & I with the huge & heavy equipment which was rented for the movie. It was an arduous event (wedding) and it came about in a nice fashion and if anyone forgets to thank Jabier, it certainly won't be Sara & I who fail to do so. And we do it with respect of everyone else in the family who may not have realized how much "behind the scenes" work all of this took. Even my niece, Alex, went the extra mile to ensure the events went well. I was/am so proud of her as well. As for my sister, Josie, who started planning for the wedding so many months ago, you did a fabulous job and I am in awe of how you pulled it all together. I hope that what little Sara & I did was enough to help you keep your lucidity. In the end, we all did what we did for Erica as we are all so very proud of her; she is one of my children as I never had any. We wanted her wedding day to be special and to go off without a hitch and to make certain that she did not fret so much. I believe that in that regard, "mission accomplished"! Before I close this posting, I want everyone to know that as I make it a point to single out Jabier for his help, I do it because it was a classy thing he did and as Erica's proud Aunt, I want to make sure that his deeds do not go unnoticed because he did all of this for her (and Nick). He made certain that nothing major went wrong and he handled the details that many may have overlooked or not wanted to do because they came without recognition.

He has always been there when any of us needed help. Sara & I reap the benefits of being neighbors with the Hernandez clan as we periodically need Jabier's help here and there. I only hope we have been there when he/they needed us as well.

I kidded around with Felicia during the wedding weekend about her officially having a brother-in-law (Nick). She seems lucky in that dept, and I sincerely hope that her fortune for having a good brother-in-law continues to follow her - her entire lifetime as I have been lucky with mine (yes, all of my brother's-in-law).

As this Father's Day approaches (in 2 short days), I utter a silent prayer for the father (Papi Dominguez) we are missing and living without, but I remind myself to be grateful for having had such an awesome father to remember and to be proud of for all of these years. I am glad that Alex has such a dad in Jabier. Many a time he was such a dad to me and he makes me proud to have him in our family.

"THANKS, JABIER!"