The Wedding Story

Oh the drama...

My family (parents, brother and grandmother) picked me up on Friday morning. Setting up the scene for a long, trying weekend - my grandma, who I love dearly, is in the early-mid stages of alzheimer's. While this could be an entire blog in itself, she has always been spunky, but now she just gets under your skin and is hard on the nerves. It's not really fair, because it isn't her fault but... it's just hard to deal with.

We got up to Traverse early afternoon and decided to walk around the Cherry Festival. It was hot and we had all been stuck in the car for a few hours, so no one was in the best of moods. My grandma didn't want to walk anywhere and every few steps would ask my dad, "how much more do I have to walk? I don't want to walk anymore." There really isn't much to the Cherry Festival, so we weren't there long.

After getting back to our hotel room, we found that my aunt, uncle and four cousins (all boys ages 12-6) had arrived and we went out to dinner together. I don't see them very often, so we had a nice time. Afterwards, the boys went swimming. My brother and I just watched because he was tired and I wanted to go to bed early so I could get up and run. They didn't understand the concept of going to bed early.

At 6 am I got up for my 9 mile run. A trail started nearby the hotel, and it went down to Grand Traverse Bay. Most of the "trail" was the sidewalk through town, but running near the water was so enjoyable. It was so quiet and peaceful. The sun was reflecting off of the water and the boats were a sight to see. My time was a bit fast, and I was pretty sure it wasn't 9 miles like the lady at the hotel desk told me. My mom and I clocked it with the car and it was about 8.5 miles. I was a little upset that I didn't get my full run in, but kept telling myelf to relax. After breakfast I went swimming with the boys. Yeah, I totally made up that 1/2 mile! They kept wanting to race. No big dea,l right? The pool isn't that big. True, but there are FOUR of them and only ONE of me. I was exhausted!!!!!

We did some sightseeing and I was so tired and moody. That stupid medicine! Afterwards, my mom suggested we get sandwiches before the wedding so we weren't starving. I started crying because I didn't want a sandwich! Silly, I know but it really did make me cry.

We went back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. My grandma didn't want to take a shower, didn't want to get dressed and didn't know why where we were going. My poor mom was trying to be patient, but she was ready for a stiff drink. Plus, we were all pretty pissed at my cousin (the bride) and my aunt (mother of the bride) because grandma wasn't invited to the rehersal dinner and wasn't asked to arrive early for pictures or to see her granddaughter before the ceremony. I know they had a lot to do, and I know having my grandma around is a full time job. But, hello!!!! She is your grandmother.

The outdoor ceremony was beautiful and my cousin looked stunning. Afterwards, my mom was ready to drink so we started in on the merlot. No crazy bouquet stories - it was set up for my cousin's (brother of the bride) girlfriend to catch it. Fine by me. I didn't even go out there. I mean, come on. I know I'm single. Do you need to announce it to a room full of strangers!?! And, if I wanted a guy I didn't know feeling me up, I'd at least want to get a free drink or two out of it! :) I also found out that there is a pool going to see how long the marriage is going to last. I think the high number was 3 1/2 years. They fight a lot, and even started fighting immediately after the ceremony because he thought they were taking too many pictures. Hmmmm.... good luck.

Afterwards, my brother, cousin (Matthew) and his girlfriend(Missy), my cousin's friend (Dan) and my cousin's cousin (chrissy) from the other side of the family all went to the bar. Chrissy was already trashed and we thought the only drama for the night would be her hooking up with Dan. When we got to the bar, Dan opened a tab and said the night was on him. Missy and I were super excited about this. About half way into the first beer, Chrissy got really upset about something and walked out. I thought the little hallway she went down was the bathroom. I lost the draw, so I went after her. Yeah. That little hallways lead to a back door. I went out and Chrissy was NO WHERE to be seen. Finally, Missy and Matthew came out and we went tromping down the sidewalk trying to find our drunk, hysterical friend. We finally found her sitting on a bench outside of McDonald's crying on some stranger's shoulder. After a lot of talking, she calmed down and we started walking her to her hotel, which was just a little bit down the street. Meanwhile, my feet are killing me so I had to take off my heels and was walking down the street barefoot. We got her up to her room (after waking her mother and grandmother) and said goodnight.

Oh, but it doesn't end there. We were down in the lobby when Chrissy's sister's boyfriend came in. His girlfriend (Laura) was passed out in the car and he couldn't get her up. So, Missy and I continued our night of taking care of drunks and went out to the car. We got her up easily (Her boyfriend tried for 45 min. to get her up. We told him girls just have that special touch) and helped her walk to the hotel room. Since we put her sister in one room, we had to put her in their other room. Little did we know they were joining rooms. So, we saw their mom and grandma again. An hour and a half later, we get back to the bar where my brother and Dan had been sitting and drinking the entire time. Last call had already been called, and we were all too tired to drink anyway. Missy and I were so upset that we had an open tab for the night and couldn't even take advantage of it!!

It was a long drive home. We were all tired, ready to not be so "together" and my grandma was in rare form. Again, I love my family but I was SO happy to get home to my nice, quiet apartment!