This past weekend I had the pleasure of driving down to Louisiana for a wedding. The wedding was the uniting of a dear friend of mine with whom I have been friends since before we started kindergarten. While I am very happy for her and her husband, I was surprised at how upset I got on the drive home. I was thinking about how she is now a Mrs., something which I didn't think would have the reverberating effect that it had with me. I started thinking about several things that happened when we were little and about some of the things that we had done throughout our lives together and I started getting teary-eyed. It got so bad that I could bearly see where I was going on I-55 and had to momentarily stop to pull myself together.
I started thinking about how although she will still be the same person, she won't. It's a strange paradox. Although nothing really will change - she'll still be the same old lovable, fun girl that I know and love - things will change, her life will change. There'll never be another night out on the town as single gals having a good time. She has been joined as one to her (might I add) wonderful husband. It's just so strange that in a 20 minute ceremony, so much can change. What's even more strange is how jarring it is when the immensity of that 20-minute ceremony hits you. As an 'outsider,' so to speak, it was immense for me, too. I can't image how it was compounded for her.
She called me that morning after I had sent her a text. Apparently, all the feelings from the day hit her all at once as she was driving on her way to get ready. It was the first time that she had been alone in awhile, allowing all those thoughts and realisations to come all at once. She was crying hysterically and requested that I tell her a story to calm her down! I was completely taken off guard and all I could say was..."Ummm...ok, what kind of story?" We started talking and she definitely got calm after we had a little conversation. When she related the events to our other friends that night, she lightly put in not to ever call me when you need to be calm because apparently I stink at improvising.
At the wedding, I saw several of my friends there. We were talking about weddings, and I told my friend, Mindy, "All these people getting married...geez, I feel so old!!" To which Mindy replied, "that's cause we are!" Who knew the ripe old age of 24 was old, right? In a sense, it IS old...comparatively old. Apparently, we've all of us matured without knowing it...excepting a few old reliables who probably won't ever mature. Someone needs to keep us young, right?
Anyway, the ceremony was lovely, the bride was beautiful, and the newly married couple were glowing with happiness. All-in-all after all the evening was a special and pleasing one. It was a beautiful beginning of the rest of forever for them, and I couldn't be happier.
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