Milk Crates and Love - A One night Pop in West Chicago Suburbs

We got invited to a cousin’s wedding in the West Chicago suburbs this past weekend and decided to use our new Metris Getaway for our one night of lodging instead of booking a hotel.  

Preparations included the “milk crate project” and outfitting the van with a few more supplies.  The milk crate project was a success.  I ordered two black sturdy crates on Amazon: 

I was actually quite happy with them when they arrived, and set out the very next day to make cushions for them using materials I already had on hand.  For fabric, I had some black stretch twill and I used 1" foam for filling.  To secure them to the crate, I used grommet trim tape, folded over and inserted into the corners as I sewed up the covers.  After turning out the covers, stuffing them, and hand stitching the opening closed, I attached them using black zip ties inside the crates in each corner.  The cushions are small enough to allow the crates to still be stacked, but large enough to make them comfortable for short term sitting. 

Kids would probably do fine sitting on just one, but I am more comfortable sitting on them stacked. 

But honestly, I didn’t order them for extra seating.  My main reason for adding them to our set up was to support the Reimo bench bed when it is extended. Neither of us are featherweights, and it felt a bit like we were pressing our luck sitting on the corners of the bed to get in and out of the vehicle. With a crate under each corner, things feel much more solid.  I made sure when I ordered them that the 13” sides were going to fit, and they did! 

We can put our shoes in them when the bed is made out.  I also found one handy to use as a step stool because I can not quite reach the handles of the pop top when it is popped. 

Also, when packing the van for camping, the totes are great for holding a small load of firewood and the odd number of items that don’t really fit well in any of the other storage locations.  We put them on the back deck where they kept our bag chairs from rolling out, and still left plenty of room for our dry food cube and personal luggage. 

 

But enough about Milk Crates...let's talk about LOVE, because this was a a trip to attend a wedding, remember? The wedding was simply beautiful. Simple, and beautiful. The venue was on the Fox River, and was small and cozy. 

 

 

The cake was a white three tier wrapped fondant with flowers on top.  Her dress was a white slim fitted solid satin, with a cathedral train of beautiful lace edges. 

 

The groom (cousin) is a police officer.  The bride is of Ukrainian heritage and is an attorney.  I was introduced to the bride before the wedding, and a woman I was told was "her boss" and the officiant for the wedding.  The ceremony began as usual with the officiant walking in first, in knee length black robes and then important family walking down the isle next; the Best Man (another cousin), her sister as the Maid of Honor, then finally the bride escorted by both of her younger brothers. 

 

The officiant instructed the couple to turn and face the audience.  She said "take a minute to look at where you are and who is here with you...because THIS is love.  This is what love looks like, what love feels like.  These people are here because they love you. Never forget this moment or this feeling.  Love will never get any more real for you than it is at this very moment."   And that was the extent of the message before she got down to the nitty gritty of their vows and exchange of rings.  They kissed, were presented to the crowd as Mr. & Mrs. and that was that.  I think it might have taken 7 minutes max.  During cocktails, I joked that I was glad we were not late, or we might have missed it!   During supper, someone mentioned something about "the Judge."  She was the officiant and the bride's boss... Okay, now the short and sweet ceremony made more sense.  The robes made more sense.  We had just witnessed a "courthouse wedding" that wasn't at a court house, and I thought that was great!  It was certainly down to business, and there is nothing wrong with that.  Marriage is a contract, after all.  

But she wasn't wrong about love.  Love is support. It is the people around you; whether they are your family by blood, your family by marriage, or your family by choice. It is the thing given to you by those people who have your back no matter what.  It can be shown in so many ways.  I know there are many popular articles out there discussing the 7 types of love, so I won't rehash them, but I do believe they were all fully present on this special occasion. Romance was, of course, way up there on the list but the other supporting kinds of love were everywhere you looked. Love was in the Maid of Honor's speech when she stated that even though she and her sister were so very different, they were always there for each other. Love was in the Best Man's speech when he talked about the groom helping his family relocate from Virginia to Montana the week before his wedding.  Love was the place setting reserved in memory of the Father of the Bride. Love was the older couples, married forever (yes, that's us) but still looking into each others eyes during a slow dance. Love was the flirting young generation that knew the words to every song and danced until they dropped.  Love was in the Ukrainian family dance as old and young alike took turns in the center of the circle to kick and shout in celebration.  Love was the feeling we all had thinking of the current situation in the Ukraine, and wishing for a resolution so that families could continue to celebrate such happy occasions in peace. Love was in the atmosphere and service of the thoughtfully chosen venue, in every little detail that went into making the evening such a delight. It was wonderful to be able to share in the beginning of a new relationship, and wish the couple happiness far into their future. 

 

Yes, there's nothing like a wedding to make you stop and think about love... but afterwards, we got to continue establishing our new relationship with our Metris. There are not many camping choices in the suburbs of West Chicago, and the ones closest to the venue did not accept reservations, so we drove upstate early to establish our camp at Paul Wolff county campground.  They do not allow camping in your car, so to avoid having an argument about whether or not the van was a car or a camper, we registered as tent campers and pitched our old tent on the site.  This also made the site look occupied, and gave us a place to store the bag chairs so they didn't get rained on.  When we returned to the site, the rain had stopped and we set to popping the top and making the bed.  It is getting easier each time, but it is still a bit time consuming.  We settled in and had just dozed off when the rain started again.  It is LOUD on the pop top and windows, but we stayed dry and cozy. 

For breakfast, I cooked bacon and then French toast on a griddle across the propane stove.  While I was cooking a young guy stopped by to check out our "unique vehicle."  He was living full time in a Class C, working on a software start up company, and looking to downsize.  Dan got a chance to talk tech stuff and that made his day. It wasn't until the end of the conversation that it came out that the Metris was a Mercedes, because we had our wet tablecloth drying out on the hood and it covered up the MB logo on the front! Somehow, this made Dan feel a little better about the interaction - like the van was able to stand on it's own with out the MB branding.  We just can't get past our VW pride, I guess.  Regardless, our relationship with the Metris is growing stronger with each trip we take together. I am confident that in the end, there will be much love.