Jeremy Grey: John? I need to see you right away. It's important.
John Beckwith: [Walking into Jeremy's office] What's going on?
Jeremy Grey: [sighs] We got three big weeks ahead of us. It's wedding season, kid!
John Beckwith: You sandbaggin' son of a b----!
Jeremy Grey: I've got us down for 17 of them already.
You may recognize that exchange from the comedy “Wedding Crashers.” While my name is John or Jeremy, I haven’t been crashing weddings this summer, and it hasn't quite been 17 weddings, I have felt like my summer is a whole lot like the montage of the two friends crashing a slew of different weddings.
This summer has been, indeed, “wedding season, kid!” Between Laura’s friends and mine, our official count of weddings attended over the past four months may very well have topped double digits. While weddings are, certainly, joyous occasions, and the receptions are typically a lot of fun, that’s just a whole lot weddings to attend, a lot of gifts to buy, and a lot of awkward conversations with people you know, but not really, but just well enough to feel obligated into that awkward semi-conversation. I know you know what I’m talking about.
The positives have been great, though. I’ve seen a bunch of my friends marry really great girls they are very in love with. I know the statistics about lasting marriages aren’t great, but I’d be truly surprised if any of them boosted that statistic. One of my favorite things to do at my male friends’ weddings is to buck tradition and keep my eyes trained on the groom when the bride is revealed. I love to see that look in his eye when he sees her for the first time. Without fail, it’s the happiest I’ve seen him in all the years I’ve known him.
I’ve had the opportunity to see friends that have moved to other parts of the country, get out and dance a little bit, even though not too many people would qualify what I do as “dancing,” and spend some really fun evenings with my fiancé. Each wedding we go to brings us closer to our own, and each one hits a little closer to home as our date rapidly approaches.
I can’t wait until all my friends have to return the favor and buy me a gift!!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Celebrating My Day of Birth
The last 3 hours of my birthday this weekend were some of the worst hours of any birthday.
Let’s rewind 24 hours, though. That’s way too negative of a statement for me to make. Every moment of my birthday up to that point was fantastic. I had the best 26th birthday I could have asked for.
The day started at midnight (obviously), inside a really unique bar in downtown Chicago. I was surrounded by friends, one (Megan) I’d known for 12 years, and two (my brother and Chris) all my life.
After some sleep, we were on the Megabus to Milwaukee by lunchtime, where we met up Chris’s family. It was great to see them, great to see his brother Alex’s new house, and good to be back in Wisconsin – even if I was only there 7 hours. We went up to see a Brewers game, and it was a fun game that ended in a Brewers victory. It was so nice to have the Stelsel and Vant Hoff brothers together and we shared many laughs, mostly at the stark differences between the people Chris and I have become. We still remain best friends though.
By 9:00 p.m., Chris, David and I were back on the Megabus, headed back to Chicago. That’s when it started. It was a double decker bus, and we headed to the back. Little did we know, it was the perfect storm at the back of what became my jail cell on wheels for the next three hours.
The trip started off fine, with me dozing off. But when I woke up, to the sound of a screaming child, I never made it back to dream land. Two seats back, two very young parents had a child who was absolutely screaming at the top of her lungs, on and off, for the entire trip. They did nothing to stop it, other than yelling at her to shut up a few times. They used awful language, said naïve things, and spoke like they were the only ones around.
I could not believe nobody said anything to them, until people on all sides of me started to join in on the idiot party. To my left, a girl got on her cell phone and let loose like she was in private, and behind me a woman got on her phone and started using motherf*#@er approximately every 10 words, like it was the only qualifier she knew. At one point, she said “if that B*#$ch doesn’t show up, I’m going to punch her in her motherf*#@ing throat.” IN THE THROAT?!?! That’s pretty violent.
By the time we got off the bus from our trip down the River Styx, I had 10 minutes left of my birthday. I lamented for 5 of those, and took the last 5 to soak in the beauty of the Chicago skyline on our walk back to Chris’s apartment.
You know what, though? On second thought, I bet my actual birth day was way worse than those three hours. I was removed from my home for the past 8 1/2 months, slapped on the butt, cut away from my food source, and exposed to lights for the first time ever. That had to be pretty rough!
Let’s rewind 24 hours, though. That’s way too negative of a statement for me to make. Every moment of my birthday up to that point was fantastic. I had the best 26th birthday I could have asked for.
The day started at midnight (obviously), inside a really unique bar in downtown Chicago. I was surrounded by friends, one (Megan) I’d known for 12 years, and two (my brother and Chris) all my life.
After some sleep, we were on the Megabus to Milwaukee by lunchtime, where we met up Chris’s family. It was great to see them, great to see his brother Alex’s new house, and good to be back in Wisconsin – even if I was only there 7 hours. We went up to see a Brewers game, and it was a fun game that ended in a Brewers victory. It was so nice to have the Stelsel and Vant Hoff brothers together and we shared many laughs, mostly at the stark differences between the people Chris and I have become. We still remain best friends though.
By 9:00 p.m., Chris, David and I were back on the Megabus, headed back to Chicago. That’s when it started. It was a double decker bus, and we headed to the back. Little did we know, it was the perfect storm at the back of what became my jail cell on wheels for the next three hours.
The trip started off fine, with me dozing off. But when I woke up, to the sound of a screaming child, I never made it back to dream land. Two seats back, two very young parents had a child who was absolutely screaming at the top of her lungs, on and off, for the entire trip. They did nothing to stop it, other than yelling at her to shut up a few times. They used awful language, said naïve things, and spoke like they were the only ones around.
I could not believe nobody said anything to them, until people on all sides of me started to join in on the idiot party. To my left, a girl got on her cell phone and let loose like she was in private, and behind me a woman got on her phone and started using motherf*#@er approximately every 10 words, like it was the only qualifier she knew. At one point, she said “if that B*#$ch doesn’t show up, I’m going to punch her in her motherf*#@ing throat.” IN THE THROAT?!?! That’s pretty violent.
By the time we got off the bus from our trip down the River Styx, I had 10 minutes left of my birthday. I lamented for 5 of those, and took the last 5 to soak in the beauty of the Chicago skyline on our walk back to Chris’s apartment.
You know what, though? On second thought, I bet my actual birth day was way worse than those three hours. I was removed from my home for the past 8 1/2 months, slapped on the butt, cut away from my food source, and exposed to lights for the first time ever. That had to be pretty rough!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Family Matters
I did a lot of thinking about family this past weekend. A no, not about the Winslows... sorry for the misleading title.
For starters, I spent the weekend in the great state of Wisconsin with my family. I traveled up there with my brother, sister-in-law and fiancé for a high school friend’s wedding. Spending time with my parents in Wisconsin is always different than when they come to visit us in Indianapolis. I think this is mostly because my brother and I always have eight million things we want them to help us with once they are here. My dad is Mr. Handyman, and has the drive of the Energize bunny, so we have him working on house projects with us all weekend.
Besides that, though, it’s just different being home – being in the place where you grew up. There is a greater sense of family there. No matter how many years I’m removed from my life in Waupun, there will always be a certain feeling I find there that can’t be found anywhere else. I don’t wish I was still there, but I do like going back and being there from time to time.
Along with the trip came the challenge of seeing my grandmother, the matriarch of the family, ailing from severe back pain. To see a family member in state of pain is a hard pill to swallow. I know, and fully accept, that with age comes health issues but it’s not easy being face-to-face with it.
On Saturday morning I had breakfast with a different friend from high school. He was a close friend, but at least two years had elapsed since we had last seen each other. At breakfast I learned, from the size of his wife’s belly, that there was a bun in the oven. To think of anyone you were friends with in high school, unless they were unusually paternal in their high school years, is a funny thought. I, of course, remember all of the crazy and fun things we did together, but it also opened my eyes to the way life is changing in a hurry.
On Saturday evening the wedding was the seventh of eight weddings Laura and I will attend this summer. This was, again, a constant reminder of how much life is changing for us and all of our friends. With my own wedding only nine months away, the mid-20’s wedding train is moving full speed ahead. This wedding was unique though, and brought about some new thoughts. The bride has gone/will undergo some major life changes all in a short period of time. She met a guy from Germany at a work event in late 2007. Since then she has fallen in love, become engaged, lost her job, gotten married and will soon move to Germany and start a new job. Mind you, she does not even speak fluent German yet, although that will come in a hurry when she is immersed. She will leave all she knows, all her friends and family, behind to start a new family, a new life, in a new country. I cannot imagine dealing with all of that at once, but she seems genuinely happy and I’m happy for her.
I also read a book, “There Are No Children Here,” that follows a family growing up in a Chicago project in the late 80’s. The mother faces an impossible task, and the family is so very different that anything I can relate to. I guess that’s what kept my eyes glued to the pages. That book threw a range of emotions my way.
The underlying factor in all of this, family, is so critical to everyone’s lives. Even in the absence of it, family plays a huge role in people’s lives. I’m thankful for the family I’ve been blessed with, and hope to look at the branches of the family tree that have sprouted below me some day with a feeling of pride, and the knowledge that I have left a positive mark on the world.
For starters, I spent the weekend in the great state of Wisconsin with my family. I traveled up there with my brother, sister-in-law and fiancé for a high school friend’s wedding. Spending time with my parents in Wisconsin is always different than when they come to visit us in Indianapolis. I think this is mostly because my brother and I always have eight million things we want them to help us with once they are here. My dad is Mr. Handyman, and has the drive of the Energize bunny, so we have him working on house projects with us all weekend.
Besides that, though, it’s just different being home – being in the place where you grew up. There is a greater sense of family there. No matter how many years I’m removed from my life in Waupun, there will always be a certain feeling I find there that can’t be found anywhere else. I don’t wish I was still there, but I do like going back and being there from time to time.
Along with the trip came the challenge of seeing my grandmother, the matriarch of the family, ailing from severe back pain. To see a family member in state of pain is a hard pill to swallow. I know, and fully accept, that with age comes health issues but it’s not easy being face-to-face with it.
On Saturday morning I had breakfast with a different friend from high school. He was a close friend, but at least two years had elapsed since we had last seen each other. At breakfast I learned, from the size of his wife’s belly, that there was a bun in the oven. To think of anyone you were friends with in high school, unless they were unusually paternal in their high school years, is a funny thought. I, of course, remember all of the crazy and fun things we did together, but it also opened my eyes to the way life is changing in a hurry.
On Saturday evening the wedding was the seventh of eight weddings Laura and I will attend this summer. This was, again, a constant reminder of how much life is changing for us and all of our friends. With my own wedding only nine months away, the mid-20’s wedding train is moving full speed ahead. This wedding was unique though, and brought about some new thoughts. The bride has gone/will undergo some major life changes all in a short period of time. She met a guy from Germany at a work event in late 2007. Since then she has fallen in love, become engaged, lost her job, gotten married and will soon move to Germany and start a new job. Mind you, she does not even speak fluent German yet, although that will come in a hurry when she is immersed. She will leave all she knows, all her friends and family, behind to start a new family, a new life, in a new country. I cannot imagine dealing with all of that at once, but she seems genuinely happy and I’m happy for her.
I also read a book, “There Are No Children Here,” that follows a family growing up in a Chicago project in the late 80’s. The mother faces an impossible task, and the family is so very different that anything I can relate to. I guess that’s what kept my eyes glued to the pages. That book threw a range of emotions my way.
The underlying factor in all of this, family, is so critical to everyone’s lives. Even in the absence of it, family plays a huge role in people’s lives. I’m thankful for the family I’ve been blessed with, and hope to look at the branches of the family tree that have sprouted below me some day with a feeling of pride, and the knowledge that I have left a positive mark on the world.
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