There’s a fun story to start this blog post. When I head out to an event, I try my best to be at least 30 minutes ahead of everyone else. Thanks to my over-preparedness and Aria’s father, John, also buffering time, I arrived at the venue an hour and forty-five minutes early.
Once John and Annie showed up with Aria, the real fun started. Aria, however, was simply not having it on this day. She was grumpy, and crying, and as much as I enjoyed it because if Aria is crying, that’s part of the day, her family was doing everything in their power to get her to smile. In some photos, the family is making funny faces at Aria; and still, she cried. In my favorite, her uncle joined her in crying; and still, she cried. In fact, aside from her mom, the only two people who had the power to calm Aria were — you probably can see this coming — her grandparents. It’s always the grandparents.
At the end of the day, though, Aria had been baptized. The family was exhausted and hot (it tends to be hot in Brooklyn on summer days), and ready for a family meal together. However, Aria was fresh out of a 20-minute nap, and was bouncing out of the church ready for her next adventure.