Christy Got Married

I went back to the home town for a wedding yesterday. One of my best high school friends got married. She was beautiful and truly looked happy. It took place at First Baptist Church, which was the church we attended when lived in Arkadelphia. I hadn't been there in thirteen years. It was nice. One of the few places where I don't have any overly embarrassing or bad memories. The church and, of course Mazzios pizza. But, who has bad memories at Mazzios...mm pizza...no, must focus.

Anyway, wedding went off without a hitch. Everyone that was supposed to be there was, none of the bridesmaids looked resentful, the groom didn't have that "where the hell am I?" look, no one tripped, the singer didn't choke and there was no awkward pause while they lit the unity candle. So all in all it was a great wedding.

The reception was nice too. I am a huge fan of wedding punch. It wouldn't take much for me to grab the punch bowl and chug it down like there's no tomorrow. But, I feel that might be a little frowned upon so I stuck with my eight refills instead. The wedding cake had a raspberry filling, so I was pretty happy about that too.

Most of my high school friend group was there. The majority I hadn't seen since 1996. It's weird how people can be so different and yet so much the same. All of them were married. Yep. As of yesterday at 2:45pm I am the last single person of that particular friend group. Good thing I now hang with people in their younger 20's who aren't "ready" or I might be depressed.

Actually, the single thing doesn't bother me. I don't really dwell on not being married too much. If it happens-great, if not-great. But, there is something about being surrounded by married people who are your age and graduated when you did that can be disconcerting. Most of them had kept in touch in some way. I just read their Facebook status. So I basically know when they're home from work and if they're tired, but nothing about their actual lives. I don't have alot in common with them anymore.

They all had babies. And that's what most of the conversation was about...their kids. And, yes, I know I have two kids. I had my two kids way before they had theirs (ha ha beat you!). But, for some reason I am not a good talker about babies. I spent a good portion of both pregnancies praying I would like mine and they wouldn't be those crazy crying kids. Well, God said okay and I like both of mine and they aren't crazy criers. So, I spent alot of my time standing on the outskirts of conversations, wondering around for coffee, the groom's cake and more punch. This is good because usually when I'm in an uncomfortable situation I start to ramble on and on about really trivial things I know and alot of times it ends with the phrase "and that's why I'm not sure how they could make a Buffy and Angel movie, I mean how would they work Spike in."

Although that said, I did have Holly. She was my very first friend when I moved to Arkadelphia. Although we weren't the closet of friends in high school, she was my BFF at the reception. She's married too, but no kids yet. And she had just enough sarcasm and humor to make me love her. I pretty much went where she did. Bless her heart. I latched onto her like a frat boy latches onto the last Bud light in the frat house.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the wedding and the reception greatly. It was incredible to see Christy so happy. I made a lot of very bad decisions in high school, and one might say didn't have the greatest reputation, but this group of friends stayed my friends. So I loved seeing them with their spouses and kids, hearing about new jobs and opportunities. Seeing this made me truly happy. I'm the one with the problem. Yeah, I'm 31 years old, never married, two kids, just now a junior in college, and working part time as a stock girl. But I need to get over it. I'm working hard so those won't be my labels for much longer.

Of course, it's still a little unnerving when the mother of the bride comes into the room and yells out "I need all the single ladies, are there any single ladies? Christy is scared she won't have anyone to throw the bouquet to....oh hey Angela, aren't you eligible for this? Come on." She grabbed me and two tween girls. I didn't catch it.

All in all, a great day. Ms. Slavens and Mr. Patterson still hang out, Dr. Tranthum still plays the organ, Mr. Kolb still makes friends with everyone he meets, Mary Elizabeth is still the cheeriest person I know, Holly is my new BFF, and I got to witness one of my best friends in love and committing her life to it. It was a great wedding.