My Best Friend's Wedding...and other things worthy of note

I really scheduled my month well. One of my two closest friends, Joy, got married on Friday, August 3rd, just four days after I returned from Spain. The reason this was a good plan (besides the fact that she is goofy-in-love with her groom and they have to go back to China soon so Friday was an ideal time for them to get married) is that it provided something for me to look forward to as I got ready to leave Spain.

Ah, looking forward. 'Tis something I do very well; too well, sometimes. In fact, Joy (who was my college roommate) was the first to introduce me to the concept that perhaps I look forward too much in my life. I'm always thinking ahead to the next fun thing, the next exciting trip or long weekend or holiday break. I suppose that's human nature to a certain extent. But on the other hand, if you're always looking ahead, you're always missing the journey, and the journey should not be missed.

Anyway, the wedding was great. Joy looked STINKING BEAUTIFUL and Richard was as dashing as one can be while looking all googly-eyed and smitten. Maybe that makes one more dashing, even...

And speaking of more dashing, what IS that fascinating transformation that takes place when a guy puts on a tuxedo? It's very close to magic. I don't care where a guy ranks on the Easy-On-The-Eyes-O-Meter, in a tux his number doubles. How does that work? Whatever it is, it seems to work for uniforms, too. And while we're on the subject, allow me to say that the whole black jacket/blue slacks thing that the Marines have going on is a puzzle to me. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT YOU DON'T WEAR BLACK AND NAVY BLUE TOGETHER! (even me, and I know a grand total of about 6 fashion rules) Clearly the designer was a single man, because if he had been married, his wife would have fixed that fashion faux pas long before it hit the ground. Fortunately for the Marines, their cool swords, white gloves, and reputation help them recover from such a uniform misfortune.

But I digress. I was going to tell you all that on my way home from Spain I had a 12 hour layover in London. I had reserved a hostel room for the night but on arriving in the city I realized that it was far, far away from the airport and that the whole system was a little messy and obtuse. I hate that. Anyway, I bought a ticket for the train which would apparently take me to the subway which was supposed to take me to the hostel, and I stopped a girl about my age who looked local to me to ask about platform info. This girl turned out to be my own personal South African angel. Jess, who was born and had lived in S.A. until she moved to London all by herself at 21, happened to be on my train (and when I say happened to be, I mean, thanks God for your help) and so we ended up riding the whole trip together. In that time she gave me directions for getting to the other airport (I flew into Gatwick and out of Heathrow) and we each talked about ourselves a bit. It was a really fun blessing.

And then I got to the hostel. Due to funding considerations I had reserved the cheapest room I could find- a bed in a 20-bed dorm room. Yes, that's right. 20. It was not my best night of sleep ever, particularly because I was a little paranoid about oversleeping and missing my flight so I kept waking up. But the trip to the airport on the tube was fun. The last line I rode is actually mostly above ground, so I could watch the scenery and think about scenes from Mary Poppins and Peter Pan. :) Even though I got to see almost nothing of the city, it really made me want to go back to the UK to visit. Not just London, but the smaller places, too, and also Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

But anyway, back to the wedding. I was so blessed to have three friends from Grace come to stay with me this weekend for the wedding. Julie, Jessica and Liz (and Liz's adorable 6 week old baby, Margot) kept me laughing for three days. It was SO GREAT to visit with them.

I've recently realized that I'm moving into the baby stage in life. Back in mid-college I hit the marriage stage, and it took a while to adjust to all the weddings I found myself attending. But now it seems my group has started to transition out of the marriage stage and begun to procreate. It's all a little odd for me. I like babies (especially other peoples') but they do have a certain knack for changing everything. Lucky for them, they're so darn cute and squishy.