It’s been a week since the wedding event of 2007. My brother Alan and my new sister Leah got married after a very fast 4 month engagement last Saturday. The past three months of my life have been extremely stressful for many reasons which I may blog about in the future, but suffice to say, I’m starting to feel like I’m getting my life back somewhat, just in time to realize that summer is on it's way out. At least with the wedding done and the marriage off to a good start, I feel that all the wedding craziness was well worth it. After all, Leah is awesome and I love my only brother very much.
I took seven days off of work to see my brother race (he got first in one race and qualified for nationals!) and help out as much as I could with the last-minute wedding stuff, and while I came back more tired than I was when I left Bend, it was still a great trip. I got to see many family members and old family friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, had a lot of fun hanging out with all my brother’s friends (who are extremely amazing people), and most importantly, I got to know my new sister a lot better, even in the midst of the insanity (not hers, just the whole crazy week!).
With wedding on the brain the last 3 months especially, I couldn’t help but think about what I would do if I got married, who I would invite, and all that annoying stuff I never want to think about, but just enters the brain involuntarily. After the whole experience, I have to say that eloping has moved to the top of the list! It’s amazing to me how one day of celebration can get so complicated, expensive and stressful even when most people can step outside the situation and acknowledge that the little things (and maybe some of the bigger ones) don’t and won’t matter in the long run. I have so many friends who have gotten married or have been involved with weddings and tell me the unbelievably terrible experiences they’ve had. One of my coworkers feels so negatively about weddings that she refuses to be a bridesmaid anymore and eloped with her husband to Hawaii were the law does not require witnesses at the ceremony (pretty extreme, but they were SO happy). Why do we, as Americans obsessed with putting on the best wedding and party, following silly traditions and one-upping others’ ceremonies, get so completely crazy? It’s inexplicable to me.
Regardless of the “wedding norm” and the busyness that comes with involvement in any event, I couldn’t be happier that Leah and Alan asked me to be in their wedding – it was wonderful to stand up there with them, during what was the best wedding ceremony I’ve ever been to, bar none. Even though I haven’t been around the two of them much while they’ve been together, I can tell that they love each other deeply and have such similar personalities and senses of humor that they do seem a perfect match!
A week has passed, and I’m starting to recover and get my life in order...just in time to hop a plane to Santa Barbara for my first business trip on Monday! It’s time to enjoy the rest of the summer in Bend....so I’m going to go climb 20 miles up a mountain on my bike. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Here’s to Alan and Leah and many many years of happiness and adventure!
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