I was in Chicago this weekend for my niece's wedding. Leslie was the first baby in the family, my older sister Mary's first child. It would be another 8 years before any more kids came along, so Leslie was always special to her mom, aunts, uncle and grandparents. Her dad was not in the picture for long and soon my sister was a single mother to Leslie. But Leslie was such an easy to please child, so easy going, she and my sister, her mom, really made a great team.When Leslie was six, my sister met a wonderful man, Tom, who loved Leslie as his own, and he and Mary got married and Tom adopted Leslie. A couple of years later her brother Ted was born and three years later her sister Laura came along.
In the mean time, my niece Leslie went to school, graduated, went to Med school and is now a doctor doing her internship in San Francisco (don't know the hospital name, so sorry). It was on the 11th day of a 12 day Mediterranean Cruise that Leslie met her future husband, Damon. Even though she was in Chicago at the time and he lived in San Francisco, he pursued her and they kept up a long distance relationship until Leslie got her first choice of San Francisco for her residency.
Which brings us to her wedding this past weekend. It was so good to be back in Chicago, my home city for 31 years and to see family I hadn't seen in at least a year or more. It was also great to get away from the humidity in Florida and enjoy some dry, cool fall weather. My niece was the most beautiful bride and her husband the most handsome groom.
Leslie and her Mom
The Beautiful Bride
Bride, Groom, Ted and Laura
Me and my sister Dolores
My brother Jim and I
