Paula & Nestor’s Wedding

For those of you who do not live in the big Apple, or perhaps have a short term memory (like mine), I’ve compiled the following weather information to help you discern how warm to dress up for the wedding. I hope it helps !

Note that if the weather is nice we’ll do the ceremony outside, but the party will be indoors.

In Fahrenheit

In Celsius

NOTE: The restaurant (Battery Gardens) is on the promenade of the Hudson river (and I may add that it has a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty). I think it’s safe to assume that in this spot it’ll be more windy than the averages shown above.

I’m seating at the terrace of the beautiful Minnewaska Lodge in New Paltz. Right in front of me lays a beautiful forest, which gently gives the way to the spectacular Shawangunk Mountains. These mountains have vertical walls of pure rock, commonly used for rock climbing, I’m told. But I’m not here today to practice any extreme sport. Instead, I’m here as the proud significant other of the Director of the Psychosocial Preparedness Division at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, at Columbia University. She is also known as the director of Mental Health Services for "Operation Assist", a joint initiative by the Children’s Health Fund and Columbia’s NCDP. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the beautiful and brilliant, the charming and sexy, my loyal companion and future wife: doctor Paula Madrid.

I had the chance this morning to watch “my future wife” (i like saying that…) present at a conference called “In the Wake of Disaster” hosted by SUNY (State University of New York). She was funny, engaging, and very good at communicating not only the latest theories in her field, but also her personal experience and stories of Katrina and 9/11. This is not just my opinion. I saw a few people with tears in their eyes when Paula told some of the most touching stories of victims of Katrina that lost their families and all their belongings in a period of 8 hours. I also saw the entire audience of 400 people laugh and clap at a little joke she made later on to cheer everybody up.

We’ll be driving back to Manhattan this afternoon, with my chest a bit bigger than before. Not as a result of the strenuous rock climbing in the cliffs of Shawangunk. But because of my even bigger pride for my smart and beautiful fiancée, mi chinita Paula.

Conference