It was about a year in quarantine. Then we got our first shot last year and then our second shot and I was on a plane two weeks after my second shot to go to Disneyworld (and, holy cow, it was a wonderful time).
After that, well, the ideas of what vaccination meant IN PRACTICE changed, we went back to masking quite quickly and back to something approaching safer-at-home more slowly… but I got my booster and the autumn and winter continued apace. But the numbers started getting better and they started getting better nationally. On top of that, the numbers started getting better *LOCALLY*. I went to a doctor’s appointment and she told me “the only covid people I see anymore are unvaccinated” and she confirmed that I got my shot and my booster and nodded.
So I felt okay about going to a wedding. This is one of my co-workers who, four or five years ago, was in my exceptionally close-knit team. There were four of us and we were constantly stuck on the same system, in the same room, having the same conversations, getting in the same car, going to the same restaurant, eating the same lunch. We had each others’ orders memorized. And it was great… until, you know, stuff gets reshuffled and the team gets broken up. This guy got moved to a different program, that guy moved to a different company, I got shuffled to the other part of the building… alas. Time goes on.
But he was getting married and invited me to the ceremony.
Now, I want to say, the last time I went to a wedding was… jeez. When I was the best man for one.
It has been a while (a decade?) and, indeed, a lot has happened since. I wanted to go and see what was going on. Perhaps there have been significant advancements in wedding technology.
I am pleased to say that this wedding did not indicate anything like that. We had some good old-fashioned hymns, some good old-fashioned readings, some good old-fashioned musings on the importance of marriage, and some good old-fashioned members of the wedding party fainting. The groom walked his mother up to the candles to light the candle that symbolized him and then moved the lighter to light the candle in the middle and we saw the groom say “Mom, not that one” and then she startled and put down the lighter and they both laughed. After the kiss, the bride wiped some of her lipstick off of his lips and the church had a hearty chuckle. And we were introduced to the newly married couple and, golly, they looked *GREAT*.
At the reception, they had great appetizers, great music, a bunch of old people, a bunch of little kids, and a bunch of people my age. The speeches were all fun (the best man’s line was about how he was “the good looking brother”, the maid of honor’s speech had her choking up in the middle, and the father of the bride’s speech opened with “If I start crying, it’s because I got the bill” and, yes, he got choked up at the end too). It was just *NICE*.
It feels like, maybe, things are getting back to normal. Just a little bit. At the very least, it’s good to see that there haven’t been a whole lot of advancements in the whole wedding thing.
It was like watching a “greatest hits” reel of the last century or so. When I was a kid, I thought weddings were the most boring thing in the world. Now? Heck, this wedding might be the highlight of the year so far.
This weekend is going to be spent in Iceland. I am already excited and I am already nervous and I have taken the first of two covid tests so I can get on the plane with a clean conscience and… well. I hope to take a million pictures. If you’re curious about the weather in Iceland, well, ReykjavÃk“>here’s a 10 day forecast.
I’m bringing fuzzy pants and hoodies and thick warm socks. I can squeeze in just one more week of winter.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “All’s Right With The World”, photo taken by Maribou.)
I saw the picture you posted on the Twitter and wondered if you were heading there. Have a great time! Funny story: my very plus sized BIL went there a few years ago, but his luggage arrived a little bit later. To his dismay, he discovered Icelandic stores don’t carry fat guy clothes. Made the wardrobe choice very easy for a bit.
My docket is trivia tomorrow and a couple of birthdays on Saturday. Hopefully jack sh*t on Sunday.Report
Yes, we experienced this already… which is odd because there’s a non zero number of American-sized people walking around. They can’t all be tourists.Report
I volunteered to make desserts for a funeral lunch at church and I’m the “parent volunteer” for the 5th grade carwash. Should be nice weather.Report
Sorry about the funeral. Hope the weather was good for the car wash!Report
I dunno. It’s supposed to storm all weekend, and I’m getting over what was (probably) some little GI virus (I am currently playing the “menopause, gallbladder crapping out, food intolerance, or virus?” game – two of those four things I’m the prime age for, one I’ve more or less always had but learn new ones from time to time, and the other – virus – is just random).
I do need to do more boxing and packing again in the hopes of hiring someone this summer to do a bunch of home renovation. So far I haven’t found a good person; what I would really like is a general contractor type that I could pay to call the various workers and do the “hey you said you’d be here Tuesday to fix the thing and you weren’t, what’s up, this isn’t cool” so I don’t have to.
I also admit I’m contemplating the wisdom of just keeping the storage unit *forever* even though my general feeling is “you shouldn’t have so much crap you have to pay for a rental place for your crap to live in” because it’s nice to have the extra room. Then again – I am planning as I bring the crap back to do it a box at a time and sort pretty aggressively. (Also if I can get some good shelves built in my sewing room, it will be easier to store the fabric neatly)
it is the weekend before finals, so at least I have limited work-work, though coming in for research work is something I could ALWAYS do.Report
Oh, good luck.
Consolidation of stuff is always painful. I can’t get rid of this uncracked book. It would be an admission that I spent the last 7 years lying to myself about getting to it.
I’ll get to it later.Report
I should have planned to spend the day at the grocery on Sunday for the entertainment value. May 1 is the first day of the Fort Collins ban on plastic film bags. You can bring your own reusable bags, or you can pay the store a dime apiece for brown paper bags. I went this morning to pick up some things and to see how the transition was going. The guy tending the self-check area said it had been an adventure, but that no one had hit him yet. He also pointed out that there were six new self-check stations down at the other end of the checkout row. Corporate had told them there would be a lot more self-bagging because people got VERY picky about it once the free film bags were gone.Report
If it happened in Boulder, I’d think that I had 5 years or so.
Fort Collins? We’ve got 2 years tops.Report
You haven’t been paying attention. A statewide ten-cent fee on both paper and plastic bags starts Jan 2023, and plastic bags are banned from the state starting Jan 2024. Stores with fewer than three locations, and a few other cases, are excepted.Report
(Long no.)
We’ll see what happens in the test bed.Report