Catching up

*** Tongue-in-cheek alert***
Speedy pointed out to me that this entry seems rather whiney, which is NOT my intent. Actually, we weathered the weekend with a great deal of good humor and enjoyed ourselves. The wedding was really lovely and Western Mass in October: sublime...If you read, please know that I was actually laughing while writing this.
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So last weekend, Speedy and I went to a wedding of my old high school friend in Massachusetts. We drove up on Friday night after work, arriving to our "inn" slightly after midnight. Behold: The Little Room of Horrors.

The door in the photo goes to the next door room, a symbolic barrier at best, the walls were so thin that OUR hangers rattled when the guest in the adjoining room hung up their clothes. The shower drizzled. The pervading smell was a asthma-inducing combination of mildew and stale smoke. (NOT pictured: the 5-foot bed with its grotesquely ornate wooden head and footboard, ensuring that we inevitably bruised both toes and heads throughout the night.)

The ceremony was lovely, a Quaker meeting attended by Jen's and her now-husband-Josh's closest friends and family. I used to babysit Jen's three little brothers. It was amazing to see that they are MEN now. The oldest is a chef and looks like Ethan Hawke. I sat behind the middle brother-- he always was trouble with a capital "T"-- and his girlfriend who, in addition to having rhinestones affixed to the outer corners of her eyes, had a heavily lined Hello Kitty tattoo on her back, inexplicably captioned with the numerical sequence from "Lost": 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. I only know this because I inadvertently memorized the sequence in trying to discern the mathematical riddle that I had I assumed must be held within it. Only later, when complaining that I was unable to solve the puzzle, was I informed that it was a reference to the TV show. I watched it for a time when it first aired, for no other reason than Evangeline Lilly. Mmmmm....

After the ceremony, pictures! They weren't going exactly according to Jen's carefully laid plans.



Nonetheless, my original band of high school misfit friends had fun. We all met our freshman year. 22 years later, we still manage to be keep in fairly consistent touch. The guy on the right is a husband. He's not a bad guy, but it is remarkable that as we reach our late 30s, only half of us are (very recently) married and none of us have children. Two of us have never had sex!! Late bloomers.



The reception was in an unheated barn. It was fun, but too cold for pictures.

The next morning we had a farewell brunch, and Speedy made a fateful trip to get gas before departure. She came back with a full tank and a busted driver's side window. NOTE: When attempting to jimmy a car door open after having locked your keys in, it is important to remember that glass does not bend. We drove home after a trip to Walmart (a first-ever for both of us) for duct-tape. We took turns driving the four hours back with the duct-taped plastic makeshift window rattling in our ears.




Four hours later, home sweet home!



Above: The hooray-we're-home! granola explosion, due to overly enthusiastic food-storage efforts.

NOT pictured, the far, far messier poop explosion that greeted us upon entry. One of the dogs apparently got REALLY nervous that we had abandoned them forever, when the dog sitter left and we failed to return for another two hours due to the window incident.