Saying Goodbye to Dad-O

Before we left for our trip, I met up for a special lunch with my dad. We had Chinese. Dad had chicken and broccoli, as always, and I had chicken with string beans (appallingly, this Chinese restaurant did not have mu shu chicken). My dad is a sweet and funny guy who looks like Steve Martin, who is a wild and crazy guy, which is somewhat different. But my dad, (also know as Chuck, Chucklet and CL) also has a very silly side. He’s also incredibly intelligent and holds about 40 masters’ degrees in subjects I can’t even pronounce. We like to listen to classical music together while conducting an imaginary orchestra. It's one of my favorite things.

Here are some of the sad photos of a very sad goodbye.





Dad, I love you so much. Thank you for believing in me. Let’s listen to Garrison Keillor on Saturdays and be on the phone at the same time. It will be almost like we are sitting next to each other....almost.

Multi-Day

Back when I was in high school, I had this thing with my friends that became colloquially known as "multi-day." It usually happened on a Saturday, or on any day at all during the summer. We would wake up early to go yard-sailing (take a guess what that means), play frisbee, get Rita's, go to the driving range, hit up the mall, see a movie... basically do as many activities as we could fit into a single day.

So we thought we'd do one last multi-day before Rhi and I went off to LA. And it failed miserably, mostly because I was the only one who was awake before 9am. Woops. But still, Saturday was an awesome day. We ate omelettes, played video games, made fun of each other, drove around looking for yard sales but weren't successful, ate fried food, played pool and watched the Flyers game. A pretty productive day, I'd say.

That night, there was a smallish going away party for Rhi and I at our friend Kevin's place in East Falls. Some of my oldest friends were there, and it was fun.


This is Meryl. She's my sister (kind of). We were really good friends for a long time, then my mom started dating her dad. It sounds like it should be kind of weird, but it wasn't really. We just kind of started acting like siblings and now I really do think of her as the sister I never had. But from looking at our matching facial hair, I think it's safe to say we're actually flesh and blood.


Here's Rhi with Meryl. I guess Meryl is her sister-in-law-(kind-of)? This, by the way, might be my favorite picture ever.


Why was false facial hair being passed around the party like acid at Woodstock? I have no idea. Just be thankful we're not doing acid.


This my good friend Jackie. We used to play the Saved By the Bell board game together all the time. Only we weren't 5; I'm pretty sure this happened in our sophomore year of college. Jackie is obviously Lisa Turtle. I was Slater. Meryl was Screech (sorry Meryl).


That's TJ in the Run DMC shirt and Justin in pink. Justin was either the first or second friend I ever made in elementary school (Mrs. Zagiba's first grade class, woo!), I can't remember which. I had Passover dinner at Justin's before the party. TJ is just some random guy I met that night. Just kidding. I never went to school with TJ or anything, but he went to college with a bunch of my friends and used that to leverage a friendship with me. We've only really been friends for like two years, but it feels like we've been tight for much longer. So this picture is probably me with my oldest friend and my newest friend. Funny? Not at all!


This is my twin brother Adam. We were born conjoined at the eyebrow.


Here we are shortly after the separation procedure, which coincidentally was scheduled for the same night of the party. The recovery time is shorter than you'd expect.


There on the far left is Ryan, who I dominate in Smash Brothers on a regular basis (it's a video game and a way of life... at least for Ryan). Over on the far right is Brad, my most trusted fantasy baseball adviser. Adam we've already mentioned. That guy in the front with his thumbs up is Alec. We try not to encourage him too much, but he still acts like that.


That's my good friend Marisa and her boyfriend Matt, whom I have taken quite a liking to. He's very tall and cuddly. I call him Matty Bear, which is a name I came up with just now but feels quite fitting. They live in New York and think they're better than all of us. That's actually why we're moving to LA: to one up them.


This is Mike. Next to Justin, he's the oldest friend I have. He's an engineer who designs fire sprinkler systems for a living, and he always loves to pepper conversations with the science of his job. I give him a hard time for doing this, but secretly the nerd in me is really interested in all of it. The last thing he said to me was, "Do me a favor and if you're writing a screenplay, don't make all the sprinklers in a building go off at once; they're only designed to go off if there's a fire under them." Mike, I pledge to you that I will not make that mistake. Mike's probably the greatest guy I know.


If you're a regular reader here at Rhi & Benner Inc., you know Joe from his gallery opening. Oh, Joey. You so crazy.


This is a nice picture.


I know, you guys. We're sad about leaving too.

I've known some of these people since I was five years old, and they remain my best friends to this day. I've lived in close proximity to them almost my whole life and it's going to be a very strange and sad feeling living over on the West Coast without them. I might have made fun of some of them here, but I love all of these people deeply (plus some who we didn't get to snap pictures of, like Kevin, Jamie, Hunter, WOO!Dmont and others). You guys have enriched my life and certainly have given me more to laugh at than I'll ever need. I know we'll still probably talk everyday through the miracle of technology, but it stinks knowing that I can't just stop by to play some video games or watch a Phillies game or grab a beer anymore.

Which brings me to my next point: Everyone reading this blog should move to California.

Barack Obama Hangs Out Under Rhi's Window

That's video of Barack Obama taken by Rhianwen from the window of her office at Montgomery County Community College. That's kind of cool, huh?

Saying Goodbyes (and other weekend events)

This past weekend, I (Rhianwen) went on a women's retreat up in Phoenixville. I had been looking forward to it all week, seeing it as a special time of rest amidst all the chaos in our lives right now, and of course a time of extended prayer, reflection and fellowship with the awesome women in my life. While there were many highlights, these are the pictures I took. Thank you HOGL women for leading such amazing lives and immensely enriching my life.



Here is the entire group of women at the retreat. From left to right...(just kidding.) Yes, I'm holding a baby. I pretty much do that every chance I get.







The conference center where we stayed had extensive land for hiking and exploring. A few of us ventured out Saturday afternoon. We saw a cool abandoned tree house that made me want to build one. Meet Nathalie, Jessica and Maria. Maria and I also roomed together at our request:) Maria and I have been working on bringing Catechesis to Narberth Pres throughout the past year and sadly now that I'm leaving I won't be as involved as I had hoped.(No, I don't expect any of you to know what Catechesis is, as it was new to me--its basically a fancy word for helping little kids understand God using Montessori methodology. It will be starting at Narberth in the fall.)

Meanwhile, Benner was having a "multi-day" with his friends and a going away party with some of his closest friends on Saturday night, which we'll document in another post soon.

But then on Sunday, we then had a tearful goodbye to our dear church friends. Rhianwen stole Edan from Adam and Megan during the service, despite the fact that they were sitting on the other end of the sanctuary. Not sure how she pulled that off. We were then completely preoccupied with his cuteness.



And here are some of our friends from church.



That's Greg. And that's Benner's nose touching Greg's cheek. I married a weird guy.



FAMILY HUG!!! with Adam, Megan and Edan. They're family to us, we're Aunt Rhi and Uncle Benner to Edan even though he doesn't talk yet. P.S. We're going to miss you guys so much!



More Edan!!!



And more Walls.



This is our friend Justin King (not pictured: his wife Cat, who is in fact a human). We're annoyed that we just met like 3 weeks ago, because we would totally be BFF's with them, or at least just good F's. Hi Kings! (You better be reading this after all the times we told you about this blog.)

Exhausted at this point, we met up with the Papas one more time for our final goodbye. Yet another tearful event.





And after the gathering, wine with our friend Teuni.



The blonde hair and glasses almost makes us look like sisters in this shot. She's a great girl.

Saying goodbye to so many great friends and loved ones makes us sad. Sigh. We'll miss you all.

Always A Week Late

Today, I will be posting photos from last weekend. I know, I know, it's really late, but we've been busy over here at Rhi & Benner Inc. for the past few days. Please bear with us while we catch up, and we appreciate your patience. In other words, get over it.

So here's the first picture, from last Friday's home group (a bi-weekly dinner/hang out time with people from our community). It's Rhianwen holding Ben White, the new addition to the White family (just another White kid, I say).


Here's Rhi showing off Ben to Jude (our roommate). Babies looking at babies is cute.


This is Jim and Rebecca, AKA Ben's parents, AKA the White People. That's Rachel in the background.


Here's a shot of three large men on a two-person couch. That's Andrew, me and Phil. Can you tell who is most uncomfortable with the contact of other men? (Hint: He's clutching a yellow pillow very, very tightly.)


This is Micah.


He is so freaking cute. Seriously, make this picture black and white and come up some down home witticism, and you have a greeting card. A good example: "I WUV YOU MOMMY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Stick it in a Hallmark store, charge $3 for it and you're a millionaire. Boom.


From left is Matt, Tony, Cathy and Tim. We love them all.

The next day, Rachel and Phil (the wonderful people who took us vagabonds in) hosted a little going away party with some friends. It was a great day: good food, good beer, Johnny almost fell into slimey ditch water and I hit Jenn in the face with a football. Good times. Here are some photos.


That's Rhianwen's college roommate Jen with her son Aiden, and my friend Mikey. They all went to college together at West Chester before each diverging on separate paths. Jen is having kids, Rhianwen is moving across the country and Mikey now sweeps chimneys for a living (good to see that he's working within his major).


That's Rhianwen holding Aiden while sitting next to my good friend Greg. At first Greg had his hand around Rhi's shoulder, but I got kind of creeped out since they look like some super Aryan couple sending out a birth announcement as it is. Too much blonde hair in this picture.


This is me and our friend Megan helping her son Edan walk across the yard. Maybe I'm just self-conscious, but are my feet ugly or what? I look like a hobbit without all the hair, which reveals my pale, almost translucent skin. It's haunting, really. Cute picture though, huh? Edan's feet are a lot cuter than mine.


This is Rhi with her parents, Chuck and Gwenyth, the greatest in-laws a guy could ever ask for.


I don't understand what's going on here.


Don't really understand this too much, either.


Okay, this is just kind of corny. Also, there's at least two men in there.


Mikey, Me and Joe. This picture looks kind of nice, but it took like 40 attempts to get it. There were a lot of, uh, outtakes. Here's one:


There were about 40 others just like this.


Here's Matt and Jenn, our next door neighbors. This is the Jenn I hit in the face with a football. But you can't even tell, can you guys? Let's have a round of applause for Jenn, what a sport!


Here's Rhi and I holding Aiden. This picture was taken just moments before Rhianwen actually bit Aiden. It was a weird moment for everyone involved.


All was forgiven, though, and Jen and Rob posed with us for this picture. Moments after this shot was taken, however, Rhianwen bit Rob. Again, it was a weird moment for everyone involved.


Here's Rhi and I taking a picture with Steve, the pastor of our church, who was gracious enough to stop by our shindig. If you'll notice, I'm actually sitting on air. It's a strange ability, but it's my cross to bear.

And that was last weekend.