I'm feeling as weak as the proverbial kitten, but I could not be happier.

Most of the people I love more than anyone else in the world will be in town beginning this evening, gathering for the wedding of my wonderful son this Sunday at Descanso Gardens.

My three sisters will not be in California, but my mother and my brother flew in today, and my daughter Pauline, her husband Ryan and amazing baby Maddie will be on the same flight with Virgile that we're meeting at 7:30 p.m. at Los Angeles International Airport. Coincidentally, all six of them were flying in from Washington, D.C., which appears to be the once and future base of my family.

[caption id="attachment_86" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Maddie, Pauline and Ryan"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-86" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/pauline-300x199.jpg" alt="Maddie, Pauline and Ryan" width="300" height="199" />[/caption]

Pauline has been in Washington with her family since Labor Day, spending nine months or so in the states for language training for her next posting in Surabaya, Indonesia. My daughter has been bilingual -- in French and English -- since she was a small child, and has learned American Sign Language and Mandarin Chinese as well as her current class in Indonesian.

Surabaya will be her third posting as a foreign service officer, and it may turn out to be the first one where she stays for three years. At least as far as she tells me, it's also where she and Ryan are planning to give Maddie her first little brother or sister.

Virgile and his lovely bride Sterling got to Washington at about the same time, give or take a week, but for him the first part of his stay is his training as a first-time officer. In February he'll begin language training for his first posting, which will be in Athens, Greece, late next year.

This will be one of the last times we're all together for a while. With Pauline possibly doing a three-year tour in Surabaya, it will put the two of them on different tracks for the time they'll spend in Washington.

[caption id="attachment_87" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="My son Virgile and my brother Stephen"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-87" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/virgile-225x300.jpg" alt="My son Virgile and my brother Stephen" width="225" height="300" />[/caption]

That makes this weekend a little more special, and it makes the fact that we'll go to Washington for Christmas this year even more special.

It will be the first time I've been back home in Virginia since we were there in April 2008 for my dad's funeral, and it will be nice to be there for a happy occasion instead of a sad one.

It's funny. When we're younger, we always think there will be plenty of time to be with the people we love. The future stretches out ahead of us like an endless highway and it's difficult to imagine that someday will come a time that will be the last time we'll see one person or another.

But while I hardly feel I'm nearing the end of my own life, I do accept that the road is no longer endless and in fact, there aren't that many shopping days till Christmas. That's why I will try and treasure the moments as they come, and be thankful for each and every opportunity to spend time with the people I love.