This weekend marked the start of my November holidays. On Friday the lovely Caralee picked me up outside and we went to the airport to catch a plane to Calgary. The flight was pretty uneventful, but it was nice to not have to go alone. I made use of the massive tub in the hotel and watched some TV before attempting sleep – now I remember why I don’t pay for TV ever. What a lot of crap for the rare good show, seriously.
Next day we met up with Bill and Nicola, snarfed some breakfast and zipped off to the church for Glyn and Harriet’s wedding. They were married in a Greek orthodox church in full Greek Orthodox tradition – including a crowning and a dance around the altar. (Actually, when she rode up on a Donkey I thought maybe that was part of the tradition too, but apparently she just wanted to arrive on a Donkey. When she was dismounting Ryan shouted “nice ass!” to the hilarity of the entire gathered group.)
There was a chunk of time between the actual wedding and the reception, so Bill, Nicola and I hit up a pub for some munchies and to get started on what would turn out to be a night of hard drinking. The reception was in the hotel we were staying at, so that was very cool. We could take advantage of the open bar – I think it may have been one of Harriet’s uncles who said “if you can’t afford an open bar, you can’t afford to get married”… and boy… did people get wasted. Including me. I couldn’t feel my face after a while, but I didn’t fall down ever. Even in the boots I decided would be a good idea to wear. I was worried about that – but I do know that I slurred my way through the last part of the reception pretty nicely. There was dancing too – some traditional Greek line dance things that required much coordination that I simply did not have (I tried!!), but were awesome to watch. Since half the people at that wedding were Greek, and the majority of the other half were Welsh, Scot or Irish of one persuasion or another, there was quite a bit in the way of drinkage. (The bartender knew what I wanted by the third time I went up there and I think he made more of that particular highball for me than I’ve ever had at one time before – he actually said that no one else was drinking them.. wtf? No one else likes paralysers? It’s just a white russian with cola! Cripes!)
I have often wondered about this idea of ‘soulmates’ and for a long time I’ve dismissed it as so much romantic drivel, because I’m not of the school that two people can make one whole person. I’ve wanted nothing more than to be an individual with a partner that compliments me. But seeing Glyn and Harriet together this weekend makes me think that for a lucky few there really are soul-mates of a deeper kind. Or maybe to even rethink the whole idea. Granted there are people you meet in life that you just immediately click with, and you can talk about anything and everything without even thinking about what he or she will think because they’re just there with you anyway. These are rare and I’m lucky enough to have a couple of these friends. (And damn people, why are we all so far apart now? I say we start a yearly tradition of all coming together for a reunion because I miss being able to just sit and talk and share with you guys. You know who you are!)
I did say to Harriet this weekend that when I first met her, I knew Glyn was going to tie the knot. There was no other option because she was nothing short of perfect for him. They really do compliment each other – and even more interestingly, they seem to complete each other. Ryan made a speech – among others, of course – at the reception that rang so true I was crying before he was even halfway through. Glyn had been less himself for years and finding Harriet really did bring his old self to the surface again. There was no denying it after Ry put the words to it.
Since my flight was so early, I did not bother to sleep. I stayed up with Nicola and Bill (at least until Nicola passed out) talking about politics, determinism and the pentateuch. I was still drunk when I finally got to the airport and I made the mistake of taking a power nap in the lounge. Bad, bad idea – my back is paying for it now.
listening to: Kosheen – Recovery
eating: jalapeño poppers (zomg foodgasm!)
drinking: lemon iced tea
reading: uhm… nothing (I know, how weird is that, eh?)
nano word count: 963/50000
feeling: almost normal
headspace: curiouser and curiouser
