"As painful as this time had been, in some ways I had never felt more engaged with my life, more receptive to and appreciative of the people around me, or more exposed to the complexities and depths of my own emotional core. Life had suddenly become incontestably immediate to me, necassary and vital, and that was something for which I was profoundly grateful."
Honestly, I'm not in the mood to blog. I just thought I should give some sort of update.
In a couple of hours, Scotty is going to come pick me up and we will be on our way to Milwaukie. In the morning we will be going to the hospital in Bend. I've been waiting for all of this to hit me, because it really hadn't yet. Then I woke up this morning to the smell of the rain coming through my window and suddenly, I was feeling it, so much that I was almost late for work because I spent an hour just sitting on my bed and staring out my window. Hopefully it will help her to see us, even if it only helps a little. 
Then we went to the grocery store to get stuff so we could make nachos while we watched the movie. We stopped to look at the gigantic apples that they have been selling lately. Those apples scare me. They're too big. I'm afraid of them.
Then we came back to my place and ate nachos and watched the movie. Then Amber left right as I was getting hit by a wave of tiredness.
Lora's wedding was absolutely perfect, and I had a great time. She picked me up on Friday afternoon, and we headed to Camp Colton for the rehearsal dinner. Mr.Spencer was driving in front of us, and Mrs.Spencer and Joe (her older brother) were driving behind us. We got to the camp right as Mike (the groom) and his peeps were arriving. Two of the guys in Mike's party were guys that were in my High School class, and I had not seen or talked to either of them since high school. They seem pretty much the same, and it was fun to hang out with them. We all lounged around for a bit, and then went to the chapel for the rehearsal, which went pretty smoothly. Then we, (the wedding party and family) had a campfire and ate hot dogs and chicken and marshmallows. Mmmmmm. Then Mr. & Mrs. Spencer left and the rest of us headed back to the cabins. It was a trip to hang out with Alex and Joe again and to find that after abagillion years of not seeing eachother, they are still just like the brothers that I never had. After about an hour, the boys (aka the Groom's party) came to our cabin and we all stayed up all night chatting and playing cards and being stupid. Good times.
The next morning, we woke up fairly early and had coffee and muffins that Mrs.Spencer had brought the night before. The picture-taking wasn't until 2:30, so we spent lots of time wandering around the woods and hanging around the cabins. The hair-gals came to our cabin at 10 AM to do hair, and then they stayed and had fun with us.
We had been told upon arrival that the owner had a dog that ran freely around the camp, and that the dog's name was Bailey and that he would probably be visiting us. But he failed to mention what kind of dog Bailey is, and I was sooooo happy to meet him! I told Lora that if Bailey wasn't a good sign, then I didn't know what was!
The photographers showed up at 2:30, so we all went down to the chapel where the picture-taking began. It ended up taking a couple of hours, but I didn't mind because Lora looked so beautiful and Mike is such a great guy and I was just standing off to the side and beaming because I'm so happy for both of them. The photographers were from a company that is run by a family that I grew up with, which just added to the feeling that I was being re-united with the community that raised me. The energy between everyone was very positive, and everything went very smoothly. I was watching the Spencer's and thinking about how it seems like just yesterday that Lora and I were eating pickles and watching Troop Beverly Hills and making Alex eat mud and having Joe make fun of us. Awwww... memories.
By the time the photographer was done, people were arriving at the chapel. The bridesmaids, Lora, and Mrs.Spencer gathered in the "Bridal Haven" (which was a very very tiny little cabin across from the chapel) and we did all of the last minute touch-ups. I started to get shaky and a wee-bit teary, because I think that is when it finally hit me that little Lora is getting Married! She looked amazing, and she knew it. I don't think Lora let two minutes go by without saying to whoever was in the room "Who is the best looking person here?... ME!" (I heart Lora).
I went outside to wait for Mom. She arrived about ten minutes before the wedding began. I wanted to give her a bit of a warning. This wedding is filled with people who had an active part in my entire family's past, so it was kind of like a reunion of sorts. The man who was origionally the manager of the photography studio that did the pictures for the wedding is a good friend of the family and also gave Katie her first job. He was diagnosed with cancer last year, and the treatment has drastically changed his physical appearance. He must've lost at least 100 pounds. When he came up to me to say hi, I honestly didn't even know who he was at first. But he was with his wife, so I figured it out quickly enough to where I don't think he noticed. I met mom outside just to warn her to expect him to say hi, and to expect to be shocked at how he looked. It made me a little teary as I told her that, but I held it together, for Lora's sake.
Then it was time for the wedding to start, so everybody except for Lora had to go out into the hall. I told her that I loved her and then saw that she was crying. It was happy crying, but oh gees... at that point I was seriously getting worried about how I was supposed to get through the ceremony without kleenex! As I was walking down the isle I had to focus on not letting my teary eyes get the best of me, and I did well. Then came Lora and Mr.Spencer, and Mr.Spencer had tears in his eyes, as did Lora, and I still managed to hold myself together, thank goodness. Everything went very smoothly. Then gosh darnit, the vows began and Mike started crying and Lora started crying, and I'm pretty sure that the entire wedding party was crying!
The ceremony ran smoothly and wasn't too long and all in all I don't think it could've gone any better. I met up with Mom outside afterwards, and we went to the reception for a couple of hours and had yummy food and sat at a table with some members of our old extended-scout-family. It was really nice. We stayed for the toast and to see Lora and Mike do the first dance, and then to see Lora and Mr.Spencer do the father/daughter dance, and then we took off. It was a perfect evening, and it was everything that Lora's wedding needed to be and more. I'm so happy that I got to be a part of it.
