Back from brother's wedding

FayeD · October 2011

Was a whirlwind trip but I survived and my brother's wedding was beautiful. Felt a bit weird meeting the bride only a couple days beforehand. She's beautiful, has lovely personlity, and seems to be a really good fit for my brother.

I'm trying to catch up on all the posts here. You gals have been busy!

Ups:
- Had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks every day.
- Saw my grandparents on one side, and most of the aunts and uncles from that side, too.
- Got an entire hour shopping at Target. Was nowhere near enough, but certainly better than nothing. Wanted to take much longer to go through each aisle.
- Saw a friend from Italy who is now living in the area and is expecting their first child. Was really good to catch up and she definitely needed some cheering up. Moving halfway around the world while pregnant and then finding new friends in the middle of all that is tough.
- Saw one of my bridesmaids. She has worked hard, lost so much weight, and looks fabulous! But boy was I surprised when she told me that she called off her engagement. We had a good talk and from her side of the story it was the right choice for her to make.
- Successfully got my mother to a salon, got her hair trimmed (a full six inches of scraggly ends), and styled for the wedding. One of my aunts got her to apply eye makeup (was a comical conversation). And she wore a dress that looked really good on her and was very wedding appropriate (in direct contrast to what she wore to my wedding).
- Had an In-n-Out double-double animal style and it was delicious.

Downs:
- My grandma on one side has some medical issues and couldn't travel. So no one from that side came to the wedding. Still waiting on the her doctor appointment to find out what's going on. Considering her age, lifestyle choices, and other medical problems, I'm not expecting good news. Just really want her to still be around next summer so we can introduce her to her first great-granddaughter. One of those special moments I'm hoping we can have.
- Had some royally awkward family moments. At one point during the reception an aunt walked over to me and asked if I had considered telling my cousin that they should be watching their children. Had another tell me, in front of their daughter, that they were glad I made better spouse choices than her kids had. And then my mom, at the dinner table, tells the relatives that when she came to visit after BabyD had been born that I was certainly very assertive in my boundaries as "the parent". She proceeded to shoot herself in the foot by continuing with "I even offered to surrogate nurse!"
- The flight home was full, and full of people you would not want to be around for that long. Before even boarding I could see and smell the many, many bad options for potential seat mates. I started praying. Got a guy who was tall and lanky but the occasional elbow missing the armrest and hitting my arm was a small price to pay for someone who smelled ok, was decently nice, didn't snore, and a whole host of other not-bad things. The other options were that bad.