Folks Got Married and Memories Were Made
I've been keeping up on reading through my first-semester-at-university journal posts fairly consistently. Around this time of that year, the journal entries died off - that was the period that LiveJournal went from being a common tool amongst us friends to a sparesely-updated afterthought.
This time now is similar for me - I am in the final stretch. Three more weeks of class and just under five till even exams are over. Things are ending; things are changing.
But this post is more about my past weeked - one that showed that some things still haven't changed. To this point, in my LiveJournal revival, I've been more aloof at describing events and names. This has been spawned out of a growing distrust of the internet and fear of self-aggrandizing. However, I will forego these fears for this post, because I find in reading old journal entries these such things are what I enjoy the most.
The long weekend started in part on Thursday night, with Scott calling me to tell me he was leaving for Kelowna that evening and trying to arrange how we were going to get home. I jealously wished I was going up with him, Dave and Shlo, but was withheld from doing this due to Friday night commitments.
On Friday night, starting at 10 pm, I was supposed to be acting in a play at the Hyatt downtown. That's cool and all. Yet it was less cool that was to be at Connor's wedding at 1 pm the next day in Kelowna.
The play did go fairly well. It was our last performance of it, so I guess that's fairly special. But that feeling is somewhat forced since the intermittent popping up of performances amongst my busy schedule had become a bit of a nuisance over the past little while. I was surprised to actually get a decent reward for my acting volunteerism in the form of a $50 Keg gift card. A girl cast member asked when I would be taking her to the Keg (although she got one too), but her motivation was mostly rebound-y, for she was recently dumped by her boyfriend. And although she's nice and all, that's one rebound I don't want to catch.
I got to my parents house well after midnight and got as much sleep as I could before leaving the next morning for the wedding. The drive up to Kelowna was a new one for me, and fortunately it went off without a hitch. I just listened to music and hyped myself up for the fun day ahead.
I pulled into the church about thirty minutes before the wedding and instantly saw the groomsmen, most of whom were good friends of mine. I heard that people who had driven up the day before ran into some bad traffic due to a huge car accident - so I considered myself ironically fortunate that I was not able to go up until that morning. Also, I found out that Russell also needed a ride home, as well as the previously-planned Scott, meaning my ride home would be much more enjoyable than the one in.
After also saying hello to Blake and Tyler (and his new wife!), the wedding started soonafter. As we were waiting for things to start I was busy scoping out pretty ladies to dance with later that evening. Once the wedding started, I reverted to carrying out another important tradition - trying to make Dave and Scott laugh while they were standing up. It didn't work very well. I was laughing at myself for being so funny more than they were.
The ceremony started. I thought Connor would probably be the one to cry, but he held it together pretty well. His face was pretty funny as Chelsea was walking up the aisle though. He even sang a song - I had predicted he would sing at least two at his wedding (and he did, with another coming later during the reception). They got married (with a hitch - pardon the pun) and it was beautiful.
In the time between the ceremony and reception, I had planned to actually go buy the gift. Pleasantly, Shlo needed something to do too, so she accompanied me. We found a mall quickly (thanks to Jeremy's directions) and with some extra time went to Starbucks. It was fun to "interview" David's lady. She checks out fairly well. We both share a disdain for the way Dave treats his cats.
After splitting up to do some individual shopping (or browsing, in my case) we headed over to the reception. I may or may not have accidentally driven to Westbank in the interim, but really, who hasn't? When we finally reached the reception, I found out that I was no seated with single ladies but all people I knew (none of whom were single ladies). That's cool though - I had a lot of fun sitting with them. Blake is especially entertaining to me at weddings. I myself couldn't drink too much - we were planning on heading home that evening (since I was teaching the next afternoon).
The actual reception was again, fantastic. Lots of visiting with friends, pictures, funny emceeing, great food and the like. Dancing was especially great. It appears that people are getting better over the years.
Throughout the night, I heard a few reports that the roads going back were pretty shaky. I spoke with Russ and Scott, and since we're manly men, we decided to tough it out anyways. At 11:30 we finally pulled ourselves away from the festivities and headed home on a new route.
And that new route was loooooooooooooooooong. I heard it was safer, so I don't mind our decision in the long run. But at about hour 3, we were really questioning our decision to go home that evening. Getting slightly lost only once and stopping only once to make sure there were no dead people in an off-balance car on the side of the road, we still didn't get home till 5:30 am.
Yet we had some great talks and jokes that trip. I wouldn't have exchanged it for anything.
And that applies to the whole weekend. As we go along with these weddings and more close friends are getting married, I'm starting to realize just how deeply my friends matter to me. There's a beautiful continuity of seeing the same people come together to celebrate life milestones.
This was heightened by the fact that I've been living "away" from them all for a few months now. My descriptions above may seem like "just another wedding". In fact, they even do to me! It's simply because I cannot really write down what was so great about the weekend. It's being able to pick off right where I left off with so many people. It's being able to take genuine joy in the addition of new people into our circles. It's being able to be completely honest with your friends. It's being able to share experiences that you know you'll make fun of years down the road.
It's being able to realize that your best friends are getting so close to you, it's hard to distinguish them from family.
That being said, I'll probably get annoyed with them, gossip about them, fight with them and not want to be around them in the future. But then, we'll make up and go back to what it was like this weekend. That's the way it is with family.
So that's why I had such a good weekend. Because, when contrasted with the often-depressing rigors of doing homework in a basement all alone for hours on end, I realize that my life is truly and utterly blessed.
The best part - I think we're going to be able to do it all again next year.
And for years to come.
This time now is similar for me - I am in the final stretch. Three more weeks of class and just under five till even exams are over. Things are ending; things are changing.
But this post is more about my past weeked - one that showed that some things still haven't changed. To this point, in my LiveJournal revival, I've been more aloof at describing events and names. This has been spawned out of a growing distrust of the internet and fear of self-aggrandizing. However, I will forego these fears for this post, because I find in reading old journal entries these such things are what I enjoy the most.
The long weekend started in part on Thursday night, with Scott calling me to tell me he was leaving for Kelowna that evening and trying to arrange how we were going to get home. I jealously wished I was going up with him, Dave and Shlo, but was withheld from doing this due to Friday night commitments.
On Friday night, starting at 10 pm, I was supposed to be acting in a play at the Hyatt downtown. That's cool and all. Yet it was less cool that was to be at Connor's wedding at 1 pm the next day in Kelowna.
The play did go fairly well. It was our last performance of it, so I guess that's fairly special. But that feeling is somewhat forced since the intermittent popping up of performances amongst my busy schedule had become a bit of a nuisance over the past little while. I was surprised to actually get a decent reward for my acting volunteerism in the form of a $50 Keg gift card. A girl cast member asked when I would be taking her to the Keg (although she got one too), but her motivation was mostly rebound-y, for she was recently dumped by her boyfriend. And although she's nice and all, that's one rebound I don't want to catch.
I got to my parents house well after midnight and got as much sleep as I could before leaving the next morning for the wedding. The drive up to Kelowna was a new one for me, and fortunately it went off without a hitch. I just listened to music and hyped myself up for the fun day ahead.
I pulled into the church about thirty minutes before the wedding and instantly saw the groomsmen, most of whom were good friends of mine. I heard that people who had driven up the day before ran into some bad traffic due to a huge car accident - so I considered myself ironically fortunate that I was not able to go up until that morning. Also, I found out that Russell also needed a ride home, as well as the previously-planned Scott, meaning my ride home would be much more enjoyable than the one in.
After also saying hello to Blake and Tyler (and his new wife!), the wedding started soonafter. As we were waiting for things to start I was busy scoping out pretty ladies to dance with later that evening. Once the wedding started, I reverted to carrying out another important tradition - trying to make Dave and Scott laugh while they were standing up. It didn't work very well. I was laughing at myself for being so funny more than they were.
The ceremony started. I thought Connor would probably be the one to cry, but he held it together pretty well. His face was pretty funny as Chelsea was walking up the aisle though. He even sang a song - I had predicted he would sing at least two at his wedding (and he did, with another coming later during the reception). They got married (with a hitch - pardon the pun) and it was beautiful.
In the time between the ceremony and reception, I had planned to actually go buy the gift. Pleasantly, Shlo needed something to do too, so she accompanied me. We found a mall quickly (thanks to Jeremy's directions) and with some extra time went to Starbucks. It was fun to "interview" David's lady. She checks out fairly well. We both share a disdain for the way Dave treats his cats.
After splitting up to do some individual shopping (or browsing, in my case) we headed over to the reception. I may or may not have accidentally driven to Westbank in the interim, but really, who hasn't? When we finally reached the reception, I found out that I was no seated with single ladies but all people I knew (none of whom were single ladies). That's cool though - I had a lot of fun sitting with them. Blake is especially entertaining to me at weddings. I myself couldn't drink too much - we were planning on heading home that evening (since I was teaching the next afternoon).
The actual reception was again, fantastic. Lots of visiting with friends, pictures, funny emceeing, great food and the like. Dancing was especially great. It appears that people are getting better over the years.
Throughout the night, I heard a few reports that the roads going back were pretty shaky. I spoke with Russ and Scott, and since we're manly men, we decided to tough it out anyways. At 11:30 we finally pulled ourselves away from the festivities and headed home on a new route.
And that new route was loooooooooooooooooong. I heard it was safer, so I don't mind our decision in the long run. But at about hour 3, we were really questioning our decision to go home that evening. Getting slightly lost only once and stopping only once to make sure there were no dead people in an off-balance car on the side of the road, we still didn't get home till 5:30 am.
Yet we had some great talks and jokes that trip. I wouldn't have exchanged it for anything.
And that applies to the whole weekend. As we go along with these weddings and more close friends are getting married, I'm starting to realize just how deeply my friends matter to me. There's a beautiful continuity of seeing the same people come together to celebrate life milestones.
This was heightened by the fact that I've been living "away" from them all for a few months now. My descriptions above may seem like "just another wedding". In fact, they even do to me! It's simply because I cannot really write down what was so great about the weekend. It's being able to pick off right where I left off with so many people. It's being able to take genuine joy in the addition of new people into our circles. It's being able to be completely honest with your friends. It's being able to share experiences that you know you'll make fun of years down the road.
It's being able to realize that your best friends are getting so close to you, it's hard to distinguish them from family.
That being said, I'll probably get annoyed with them, gossip about them, fight with them and not want to be around them in the future. But then, we'll make up and go back to what it was like this weekend. That's the way it is with family.
So that's why I had such a good weekend. Because, when contrasted with the often-depressing rigors of doing homework in a basement all alone for hours on end, I realize that my life is truly and utterly blessed.
The best part - I think we're going to be able to do it all again next year.
And for years to come.