Ever find yourself driving to work, lost in thought, some random concerto pulling at your ears, vaguely staring at the watery taillights of the car in front of you and suddenly you realize that you don't know where you are? That happened to me this morning on the 219. Of course I knew where I was going, and I knew I was going the right way, but for a split second I didn't recognize my surroundings, and had to pull myself out of the daydream enough to know where on the route I was. I find this happening more often lately -- like I'll get to work and not completely remember certain parts of the route I took to get there. Obviously I had to drive them or I wouldn't have arrived, but I couldn't pull a picture of that part of the road for that morning. I think this is just something that comes with getting so used to driving a certain route that you can pretty much go on autopilot, don't actually have to think about the driving much, just have to get there. More time to let myself think about other stuff.
Last week was Jason and Liz's wedding. I'm kinda glad to be done with weddings for a while, because even though they're wonderful happy occasions this WAS our fourth for the year, so I am a little bit wedding-ed out. Moreso, I think, because I am wanting to get married so badly and we are just not there yet. Someday we will be, but for now, well for me anyway, it's a little bit frustrating sometimes. *wallows in self-pity* Okay, done with that now. ;)
All that other personal crap aside, it was a beautiful wedding. This was the first time I have been to a Catholic wedding and I LOVED it. Which I knew I would. I don't know what it was about it that I liked so much, exactly. Maybe just the fact that it really is a Mass, with a wedding in the middle of it. You have the processional, the greetings and prayers, the readings and Gospel and homily (although the homily was conspicuously missing last week, not sure why), then the sacrament of matrimony... and then you go on and have Eucharist. I think it was the communion aspect that I liked, to be honest. It brought a sense of community into the marriage (communion, community -- I think I might be on to something :P). Seriously though, most weddings you go to, you're a spectator. You watch the couple, they say their vows, you might hear some readings and songs and things, who knows depending on the ceremony, and then you watch them leave. This was so much different though! They were married, and then everyone celebrated WITH them through the Eucharist. They are married, they become part of the community in a new way, and then the whole community celebrates that. It's like Easter Vigil -- there are the readings and the Gospel and homily, and then there are the Baptisms, and then Confirmation, and then we all celebrate the Eucharist. Welcome the new members into the community, and then celebrate our new community through the Eucharist.
I can't explain it very well, and I don't know if you can understand until you've seen it. But I thought it was amazing. There are so many things I love about the Catholic Church and it seems that every new thing I discover makes me love it even more. What an amazing thing. The feeling that I had after this wedding was over -- it touched me so much. When I get married I want it to be that way. I want a Catholic wedding with a full Mass, because I think that's the way it was meant to be. Having finally seen it and experienced it for myself, I can't imagine doing it any other way.
Of course there is still the sticky situation of my side of the church not being Catholic. But Liz's family isn't Catholic either (Liz herself isn't even Catholic) and they had a full wedding Mass, so it can be done. In all honesty I'm really not all that worried about it anymore.
Other points of note: I loved the way they did the unity candle, I thought it was a lot more meaningful than most other unity candle ceremonies I've seen. Usually (in my limited wedding experience) it seems like there's a solo going on and the bride and groom light the candle during that -- so the focus isn't on THEM, it's on the soloist; this time they actually made a bit of a ceremony out of it, their moms came up to hand them the individual candles, and after they lit the big candle they held it up between them and the priest said a few words. Only real snag was that the candle ended up going out. ;) But I liked the way it was done. I also liked their wedding cake, which was cheesecake! And the cake topper was funny. ;) Plus they actually had a good DJ, finally. All in all, quite a nice day. :)
As a last note regarding weddings, Joe suggested that we take our money (when the time comes) and go all out on the ceremony, and leave it up to whoever wants to throw us a reception, if we have one at all. I actually kinda like this idea. It forces the focus on what's important. The cake, the DJ, the banquet, the centerpieces -- those are not what's important. You can have a wedding without all that fluff.
To change the subject, I saw Mrs. Molly last weekend. She's still pregnant, by the way. I got really confused when she told me she was "officially in labor" last week. She was dilated to 1cm and having some contractions, which stopped. Which, in my book, isn't labor (when I, like most people, hear "labor" I think "active labor"). But what do I know, I've never been pregnant. ;) Anyhow I got to see her belly rolling all over the place when the baby moved, which I thought was neat because I never saw anything like that before. :P
Molly's been hoping Miss Eva would arrive before Grant leaves on Monday to start his new job (in New Jersey). Of course, Eva is finding herself more than comfortable hanging out in the womb a bit longer. (And technically she's not due to arrive until next week anyway.) The latest news I heard is that they have an induction scheduled for Saturday (hey that's tomorrow!), so that Grant can be there, so Baby Denis should definitely be making her grand appearance in a couple of days. Which is cool and all. It's not something I think I would do. But I'm also not faced with the possibility of having my baby decide to come while my husband is 5 hours away. ;) So I hope it all goes well for them, and I can't wait to hear when she gets here. It will be fun going to visit them again after she arrives. :)
I'm beginning to prepare myself to deal with the reality that The Cow will not live forever. His zipper is getting worse and worse about actually closing, and one of these days it's just going to quit. I'm not sure what I will opt for next. Another furry aminal purse? Or do I bite the bullet and graduate to something more purse-like? I don't think I will get another cow -- that would be an insult to The Cow's memory. Yet at the same time I'm not sure I can see myself with anything but a cow. Or maybe I just can't see myself with any other purse of any kind. The Cow has been a part of me for so long -- I've had the silly thing for nearly 7 years. I brought him to the senior ball at the end of high school, and to everything in college, to my job interview here. I get compliments on him everywhere I go. I can't imagine retiring him, but I will have to -- soon -- and that will be a very sad day. :(
I must be quite a sight leaving Curves 3 days a week, in my pajama shorts and sweater, with The Cow and The Other Cow (my duffel bag from Locke) slung over my shoulder. :) It's fun to be a little bit quirky. I think for the most part I'm basically normal, most people who look at me wouldn't think I'm anything more than just your plain, average girl. And then they notice that I have a stuffed animal backpack slung over my shoulder. It's my thing. It makes them do double-takes. It makes them wonder. That's what I like about it.
Maybe I will just replace his zipper and keep him going. :)
To tie this whole [extremely random] post together... maybe next week, while Molly's holding her brand-new baby and Grant's away on business, I shall be driving to work, lost in thought, daydreaming about the beautiful Catholic wedding I hope to have someday, and how in place of a bouquet, perhaps I shall just carry The Cow down the aisle. :)