Continuing with the Cheers theme of home & family, it’s time to write on the main event of the weekend last weekend:  Maggie & Matt’s wedding!

The blessed event was to take place on Saturday, April 24th – which also happens to be my Aunt Helen & Uncle Byron’s (Maggie’s parents) 29th wedding anniversary.  This is incredibly cute as Aunt Helen & Uncle Byron met at a friend’s wedding, and Maggie & Matt met at one of Maggie’s Boston cousin’s wedding.

So, Saturday morning I slept in.  Which was REALLY nice.  And then Beth, Shaloot, Andrew, Mama & I went to a classic New England diner (Bob was sleeping due to some pretty terrible allergies – plus he had already eaten breakfast).  It was delicious (tho I did lament the fact that grits were not on the menu…) and gave us enough sustenance to pursue the arduous task of primping to prepare for the wedding.

The ceremony was in a small, beautiful church, St. Thomas.

St. Thomas Church

It was really very nice, and Maggie was of course a GORGEOUS bride.  The entire Boston Wyche family looked spectacular, actually.  This is, of course, the standard for Wyche families tho   But it was really very touching.

Uncle Byron and Maggie

Carole, Maid of Honor

Yay, the happy couple!  Congratulations!!!

Maggie & Matt

and the OTHER happy couple

In the receiving line

From the ceremony we of course went on to the reception.  It was an AWESOME good time   It was mostly family, so it was nice to catch up with everyone.  Fun & relaxing & wonderful.  Also…there was an open bar for at least part of the time, so things did get a little rowdy.  Apparently I danced a lot.  But, it was all in good fun.  The toasts were great (Carole’s made everyone cry!) and there was just a lot of love & laughter!

Aunt Helen, Aunt Margaret, & Mama (Aunt Elaine!)

Maggie, Carole, & Aunt Helen

Father/Daughter Dance

Mama & Beth clapping

Toast by the Maid of Honor, Carole

This is my family, y'all

YAY MAGGIE & MATT!

Time to blog about Boston and the Cape.  The Cheers theme song is perhaps the most appropriate means to do so, because a) Cheers is set in Boston  b) sometimes you just want to be with your family (where they all know your name)  c) usually you’re always glad you came to a wedding  d) Cheers is not referenced enough post-80s/90s.

The trip started out hectically enough: I worked all 3 jobs on Thursday & left immediately to drive to Raleigh afterwards, arriving at 1am.  Beth & Shaloot were still up, packing.  After stealing a look at their remodeling ventures, I actually beat them to sleep at the early hour of 2-2:30pm.  We all woke up at 5:30am to make our 7:30am flight, but the odds were stacked against us.  And we missed the flight by literally 8 minutes.  Had any one thing gone differently, perhaps we would have made it.  And perhaps more of this post would be filled with tales of sight-seeing in Bostonia.

But alas, we will simply have to journey there at some later time to really see the city

As it was, it could have been worse.  While we missed our flight, we really only lost 6hrs, we still had plenty of time to make the wedding as we were flying in the day before, and we were only out $150 for all three of us to re-book.  So, after going through airport security a SECOND time (and again explaining that the coffee Beth & Shaloot were transporting was not, in fact, cocaine) we ate a leisurely (and humble) breakfast in the airport, and Beth and I engaged in semi-philosophical discussion, much of which surrounded the various mental illnesses that we may have inherited from our parents, as evidenced by some of our more neurotic shared behaviors.

We flew into La Guardia and landed around 11:40am.  At this point, we had to catch a shuttle flight that runs hourly from NYC to Boston.  The airline lady had told us we probably wouldn’t make the 12:30 and should just be content with the 1:30, but we were determined to try.  And once again, we failed.  This time I am willing to lay the entirety of the blame on the inefficiency of the airport (which I have never done before; usually I am partially at fault for a missed flight, or at least timing was off).  This was the worst security line I have ever been through and completely and utterly inefficient.  But this delay at least gave Sister Dearest some time to interrogate me about my (non-existent) love life, so it wasn’t too bad.  Being delayed isn’t that bad when you have good conversation.  M&Ms help also.

But finally, we made it to Boston and met up with Bob.  We drove around a bit to see the sights, and then got out and walked about in the public gardens – which are BEAUTIFUL.

Tulipalooza

Cherry Blossoming Tree

Nice view

It was quite relaxing – especially after spending so much time in airports.  We strolled about and had some lovely conversation and caught up a little.  We also made contact with my younger brother & mom, who somehow managed to end up on Staten Island, and then drive through all five burroughs, on their drive up from Virginia.  We stopped to check out some pretty kick-ass musicians (the girl was truly the star – and what on earth is that instrument the one guy is playing???)

Badass

After that, we took a foot tour that was a teensy bit circular, but saw some of the more historic sites, like Boston Commons, the Old State House, etc, and ended up at Faniel Hall/Quincy Marketplace.  Beth & Shaloot bought their requisite magnet, and we waited to meet up with Bob’s friend/former boss, Bill.  The five of us grabbed a delicious seafood dinner (Beth & I shared a spicy tuna roll & a spicy salmon roll, and each got tomato bisque.  We also split the best calamari ever with the table).

Outside the tasty restaurant

Mmmm calamari!

The conversation was, predictably, excellent, and we heard some great stories about some of Robert’s escapades (he usually hides them well – or at least better than I do).  Afterwards, Bill treated us all to beer at the tourist version of Cheers (not the actual site).  Mmm.

All of us at Cheers!

Finally, exhausted, we bid adieu to Bill, and embarked on the final leg of our journey: the 1.5hr drive to the Cape.  Luckily we had Flight of the Concords to keep us awake – despite the inherent dangers of having “You don’t have to be/a prostitute” stuck in our heads during the wedding the next day…At any rate, we made it to our lovely hotel, said hi to Mama & Andrew, and promptly collapsed into unidentifiable heaps around 11:30 or so.  Phew.  Plenty of time to rest up for the wedding festivities the following day

it has been WAY too long since I’ve updated.  And as to be expected in almost a full month, a lot has happened.  For one thing, I am now 24.  Which is getting pretty old.  For another, I’ve been accepted to Wake’s MA in Counseling program, and have accepted their offer of admission to enroll in fall 2010.  Which is pretty effing fantastic.

Aside from all of that excitement, there has been the other regular hum and thrum of life: work, hanging out with friends, cleaning, paying bills, reading, watching TV shows on completely ghetto websites, etc etc.  I also took a trip to visit the padres & my baby brother the week before my birthday.  So it’s all been pretty good….

I also have to admit, there has been a lot of food in the past month.  And very precious little exercise.  Oy.  Luckily, it has somehow (thankfully) become spring, so that should motivate me.  I mean, in between hanging onto my current job by my fingernails, frantically job hunting for ANYTHING else (as usual), seeing friends, trying to balance my checkbook, reading obsessively, and sleeping.

Oh, God, I love sleeping.

The past two weeks, I have miraculously & thankfully been sleeping.  Without nightmares.  Which is absolutely outstanding, because the two weeks prior to that were absolutely riddled with nightmares.  I’ve had a few bad dreams here & there, but nothing like the nightmares…which involve waking up in a panic attack and not being able to fall back asleep for an hour or so.  And then of course staying up as late as possible the next night to hopefully be too exhausted to have nightmares (which, it turns out, is not a legitimate remedy).  But I have been sleeping recently, which is wonderful.  I began catching up on sleep when I was quite drugged up on benadryl at my parents’ home due to their acquisition of a cat.  It was at this point I realized why I have always felt so relaxed and exhausted at Sister Dearest’s house: because I’ve been on drugs.  I mean, it’s also really peaceful and they are a lot of fun.  But I’m usually a boring houseguest because I can’t keep my eyes open.

This was not the case at the lovely birthday dinner I had with Beth & Shaloot   We met halfway between our homes, for some somewhat mediocre Mexican food, and ummm I’m pretty sure I talked their ears off.  But I was also kind of excited because I’m pretty sure I met the love of my life at the  Barnes & Noble where I waited for their arrival.  I shouldn’t have to tell you why I suspect him to be the love of my life since it was my birthday, he was super cute, and he works at B&N.  Screw benefits and give me books people.

Uh, I digress.  And I’m just kidding about the love of my life part, because I don’t even know his name.  And this store was an hour away from my home.  Altho, I’m not going to lie, I considered applying for a job there and commuting.  But that has more to do with major work dissatisfaction and less with flirting.  Ok, maybe a little bit to do with flirting.

Anyway, hopefully this rambling post has left you feeling satisfied and a little less lonesome for my presence.  There will be a (coherent) book post coming soon – just have to finished up a quick series here and I’ll get started on it for you   In the meantime, have a safe and wonderful Easter weekend…there is much to be thankful for

I don’t think it’s a secret that I am just a little obsessed with pictures.  In fact I’m pretty sure that, at some point, 95% of the people in my life have been annoyed with my insistence on taking pictures of what’s going on.  But even beyond that, I can literally spend hours looking at old photos.  I love black and white photos.  I love pictures where people aren’t looking at the camera.  I love portraits of individuals.  I love pictures of couples.  I will probably always smile at any picture of a baby.  I can look at pictures that I was never even there for and imagine what was happening, and I can laugh at pictures I am in or that I took and vividly recall the exact situation in which the picture was taken.  And this is pretty much what I have been doing the past three days or so – looking at pretty much every photo of people in my life that I can get my hands on (and you don’t even want to know how many that is).

So, in honor of that, here are some quotes I particularly like about the power of photography…

Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created.  It is a major force in explaining man to man. – Edward Steichen

All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget.  In this – as in other ways – they ar e the opposite of paintings.  Paintings record what the painter remembers.  Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it. – John Berger

It’s not really a secret that I have a lot of, shall we say, job dissatisfaction.  There’s a lot about my job that is hard, a lot that is unnecessary, a lot that is an inconvenience, a lot that doesn’t make sense, and even some that is just plain dangerous.  Lately all of these negatives have been weighing heavily on my mind – and by that I mean I have begun making randomly bitter exclamations in a surprisingly vehement tone.

It’s not attractive.

It’s also not fun.

But despite all of the varied complaints I have had recently (and no matter how legitimate they may or may not have been) and despite how desperately I continue to search for, well, any other job, today was just one of those days.  I hate it when I have days like this.  There I am, happily going along in my cynical state, adding pile after pile of bleach/manure stained clothes to my dirty laundry list (hehe literally & figuratively, get it?).  Awful things happen, and it’ s just one more thing to add the pile of why I hate my job.  I begin speaking really angrily about…anything, begin stress eating, the nightmares return, my co-workers and I purchase even more wine and stay up till 3am crying and venting, my face breaks out, and I once again start yelling at God when I’m in the shower or car.

And then I have a day like today.  A day that is really no better than any other day – and definitely not better than any day in the past 2 weeks – and a day that is in the middle of another typical not-so-great week.  My kids, who have been on level or behaving appropriately, get in fights, lie, pass notes, sneak drugs, make ignorant comments, break rules, are disrespectful.  My co-workers and I argue and don’t speak and have med errors and become passive aggressive and miss appointments and lose our cool in front of the clients.  The parents cancel visits with the kids, yell at us on the phone, fight in family therapy, try to get us to discipline their kids when they don’t want to, break their kids’ hearts, and give up because they don’t know what to do.  And my organization requires us to take yet another retraining that is a complete waste of time, opens up more jobs instead of giving any of us raises, doesn’t support us on the shift, won’t assume responsibility for the competency of its employees, lie to the kids, and still haven’t fixed our microwave.  As a bonus, a drugged/crazy man comes on campus, violently looking for an “Isaac” when there is no such person in *any* program.  My friends have relationship drama, friendship spats, quarter-life crises, financial disasters, family horrors, illness, death, break-ups, addictions, breakdowns, weddings to plan, body-image problems, job dissatisfaction, muscle spasms, professional disagreements, etc. etc.

And then somehow…I have a good day.  Nothing in particular is great.  But, at the end of the day, I feel like I have done my job.  I have had some truly wonderful conversations.  I have laughed at a variety of things.  I have been supported and appreciated, even if on small small scales.  My opinion has been heard.  I have figured out some of my own issues.  I miss my friends & family in the satisfying nostalgic kind of way that recognizes their blessing in my life.  I have flirted and day-dreamed.  I have had coffee.  I have looked at old photos.  I have mentally talked to my ex-boyfriends and felt satisfied with the parts they played in my lives.  I’ve taken a walk.  I’ve started a new book.  And, most annoyingly, I’ve just melted over my kids and co-workers.  My heart has actually broken for them.  And it’s so damn frustrating because as much as I hate my job, as awful as it is, and as awful as the kids can be and certain staff members can be, by and large…I love those damn crazy people.  Even when things are as frustrating as they can possibly get, that is still there…no matter how much I may try to kill it.

It’s so annoying.

But the sword cuts both ways. While our heart grows in its capacity for pleasure, it grows in its capacity to know pain. The two go hand in hand. What, then, shall we do with disappointment? We can be our own enemy, depending on how we handle the heartache that comes with desire. To want is to suffer; the word passion means to suffer. That is why many Christians are reluctant to listen to their hearts. They know that their dullness is keeping them from feeling the pain of life. Many of us have chosen simply not to want so much; it’s safer that way…Sanctification is an awakening, the rousing of our souls from the dead sleep of sin into the fullness of their capacity for life… – John Eldredge & Brent Curtis