I have spent a cold weekend in Dallas at my niece Alana's wedding. On our side of the family, 13 people showed up to see Alana take her vows with her new husband, Steven. It was a great time for my family to come together from Alaska, Florida, Minnesota and California. It seems that the last 11 years since my sister died, we have gotten together for few happy occasions.

It was a wonderful wedding with a 12-piece band of music from the 40s and Latin Rumba. Everyone danced and there was an open bar.

My brother, Tim, who lives in northern California had a couple of whisky's around 11 p.m. and announced to all the Texans how much he loved Houston.

Everyone knew he was having a good time when they reminded him in unison that he was in Dallas.

Tim happened to come across 5,000 people marching in protest in downtown Dallas against having war in Iraq on Saturday. He was very happy to see this, as his wife and sisters-in-law were marching in a protest march in San Francisco. They had made signs that read: Bush Send Your Own Children to Iraq. I saw on CNN there were large protests all over the world.

I was glad to see this but I think we will still be going to war.

War is not always good for business. My sister, Mary, has an import store in California and since Sept. 11, she has had a huge slump in her

business. She recently returned from a buying trip to India and they are hurting over there with so few American tourists coming to visit. Mary travels quite a bit and she said that in India, the people said they liked Americans, but not our government. With all the mass protests this weekend, this seems to be the consensus of many people in the world.

As far as peace in the world, it starts with us right here. Since I spent

the weekend with my family and we all came from different direction and

walks of life, we got on very well. I was wary about my youngest brother, Kevin, who is a commercial fisherman. He has been in Alaska since September. He had been living in Ireland the past 15 years fishing, but he came to the States to lick his wounds as he had broken up with his girlfriend. Kevin is a cook on the boats and he is a very good cook. It is hard to go out to eat with him as he comments on every item served. We were getting tired of hearing him complain about everything.

On the way to the wedding, I told him that if he complained about any of the food he would owe us each $5. My sister, Mary said I should have put a higher amount on his complaining. He didn't complain once, but he almost got in a fight with the photographer that was taking family pictures and we had to shut Kevin up. Kevin is a stirrer-upper and likes to create a scene wherever he goes. He does make life interesting and I have good stories and memories from my weekend in Dallas.

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or by e-mail at :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com