Wedding Eve

Here are some pictures to give you a sense of my trip to London. I'm sure that as I post them I will be reminded of funny stories, including, of course, the Yellowbelly's incident. I'll get to that soon. I'm sure I'll also include some stories from college, as these were all college friends at the wedding. I'm also sure that some of those stories will be irritating, because everyone thinks their college stories are hilarious, when if you weren't there for them, they are actually tiresome. But since this is my blog, I get to do whatever the hell I want. Remember that I prance AND suck.

My friend Dave Jacobs, aka DAB, likes to think that I wore only rugby shirts in college because I am WASPy and went to a small college in New England. I was more of a dippy hippie, but since we were in London, after all, and to placate him, imagine the people in these pictures about 15 years younger, wearing rugby shirts, holding snifters of brandy, and saying things like, "How about a game of snooker after elevenses, old chum?"

This picture was at a boutique in Notting Hill. I had just gotten off a red eye, and it shows. I woke Leigh up from a nap in our hotel, and we went to meet Jen and Naomi for a spot of shopping. Leigh is on the left, then Jen, me, and Naomi. I think Naomi bought the dress here that she wore to the wedding.

It was at this point that I had the rude awakening about the exchange rate. The pound is very strong these days, and the dollar ain't. I get a nosebleed from the prices in boutiques like this anyway (not to mention the fact that the clothes in them are better suited for the hangers than they are for anybody who is larger than a size 6, which includes me), so you can imagine my response when I looked at price tags and then remembered I had to double the number to get the dollar amount. I always imagine that the clerks in stores like that can sense my agitation and find me disgusting. But I didn't see a Marshall's or a Target anywhere in Notting Hill.

Here are Sam and Rachel at the party at Inn the Park that Pat's parents threw. It was basically a rehearsal dinner shindig in a lovely setting. It was rainy, but we had a good time anyway. (Side note: This place was the scene of the whole ladies' room/restroom/TOILET epiphany. And to the commenter who noted that Brits say "the loo," good point. But I was flustered and really had to take nature's call, so I wasn't thinking clearly. This is also where the faciltation of later evening snogging took place.)

Sam and Rach have two kids apiece. Sam's kids and husband were with her; they made a holiday of the trip, and Rach left her kids and husband at home. All 4 kids are some of the best behaved, nicest I have ever met. The husbands do all right too.

I had seen Rach last fall before the Abu Dhabi North American qualifier, but it was the first time I had seen Sam in at least a few years. And it was amazing, though maybe it shouldn't have been, how it felt like no time had passed. We just fell back into a nice comfort level with each other. I love Sam and Rach! (Gratuitous college tidbit: for a while Sam dated a nice guy named Alex. His last name is Italian, and he was tall, dark, and handsome, so his friends called him Don Juan Calzone. I always thought that was hilarious.)

I have a great picture of Jen's parents, Jack and Starr, but Starr wasn't thrilled to have her picture taken, so out of respect for her, I won't post it. But they both looked fantastic, and are terrific people. I've gotten a chance to get to know them, particularly the past couple years, and it was great to get to spend some time with them this weekend.

Pam, Jen, me. Pam and I had some interesting conversations about LA. She lived there for over 10 years, to be in "the business," and she said she never felt quite at home there. She also talked about how difficult it was to make and keep friends, simply because the city is so spread out and the traffic is so bad. She told me she could put me in touch with some great people, though, so I need to remember to take her up on it.

The happy couple, Jen and Pat. Jen just sent some of us a link to the photos from the wedding photographer. It's a private stash, so again out of respect for them I won't be sharing, but suffice it to say that they both looked really wonderful. Glowing, happy, in love. It was incredibly sweet and touching. During their wedding ceremony they read from a Walt Whitman poem about traveling together. Very fitting. Most importantly, they are going to come to Turkey to watch me compete! (Yes, their wedding ceremony was all about me, of course.)

Sam, Leigh, and me. Leigh is a terror. We all got into shenanigans together in college, but Leigh definitely took the cake. And she hasn't changed much. At the wedding, after people had given toasts, she joked that her toast would have been along the lines of, "Jen paid me $200 not to say anything." It probably would have been wise. I know I'm going to do it at my wedding.

I was honored that Jen asked me to give a toast at the wedding. I think I did all right; I managed to follow the Hippocratic oath of toasts: first do no harm. (Wish I could say the same about my sister's wedding. Sigh.) I made a few jokes that went over well, and the gist of the sentiment was that I believe your friends are the family you choose. And if that's true, then when I chose Jen and Pat, I chose wisely. And then I toasted them to the wisdom they were showing in choosing each other and to the happiness it was sure to bring them for years to come. That's kind of sweet, isn't it?

Me and Naomi. I've actually known Naomi for longer than anyone else who was at the wedding.
During our freshman year, she and I lived in triples across the hall from each other in a dorm called Gile. So since we're both 37 now and were 18 when we met, well, that's a lot of years. I met Jen, Rach, Leigh, and Sam the following spring; they are a year older than Naomi and I are. We met them when we joined their sorority. Lots of people can't believe I was in a sorority. But it wasn't "pukey rah rah," as we used to say. Our college was actually male dominated, and so joining a sorority was a good way to meet chicks. I was lucky that I liked my roommates and Naomi, but it was hard to meet any others. So the following spring, there were Leigh, Rach, Jen, and Sam! Holy crap, it's been a long time.

Okay, that's Wedding Eve. More later on the wedding and post-wedding festivities, including my training at Roger Gracie's academy!