It had been five years since I was up to visit my Yankee Family. Lots of pretty intense things are happening for all of us, and I will be eternally grateful that DMc encouraged me to take the solo trip up for Little Sister’s wedding and a low-key Family Reunion. What follows is a random stream-of-consciousness summary from my perspective, taken from a Note I just found on my iPad. Apparently I had planned to write about the trip!
Day 1: I cannot recommend TSA Pre-check highly enough. Best $85 I have ever spent. Hey, First Class! Bloody Marys and breakfast – fancy! Wow – it’s a long, long, long walk from one end of the Charlotte airport to the other. That’ll burn the vodka out of your bloodstream. Brief observation upon arrival in White Plains: Yankees are rather more different than I recollect. Years ago, I found the culture shock troubling, now it’s just fascinating. Burgers and beer for supper, heartfelt hugs all around, early to bed and a very deep, relaxing sleep. Ahhhhh!
Day 2: Best evening in a very long while with Little Sister, Pending Brother in Law, Nephew and Niece. Too much wine. Excellent Thai food. Still not clear on the Objective of the train dominoes game. Niece has this groovy projector thingy that turns her bedroom into a planetarium. OMG, I want one.
Day 3: Excellent lunch out at a fun brewpub, where the best fried chicken sandwich must be eaten with a knife and fork and several napkins. Turns out my Niece is truly an Excellent Driver. Seriously – I totally would have hit that wheelie bin in the road or the panel truck one. Day concludes with me drinking the Patriarch under the table on the upstairs deck at the Parental Units’ house. Punishment seems to be road trip to PA for smokes.
Day 4: Road trip to PA for smokes. No Septuagenarians were harmed. Family pre-show party that night at the bride and groom’s place. Insane amounts of food, lots of meeting new extended family members, lots of self-managing my desire to go hide in the garage because Too Much Social Interaction.
Day 5: The Wedding!
Little Sister included me in All the Girly Things – something I’ve never done before – it was both super cool and super awkward. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
I may have inadvertently project-managed some random people who got out of control milling about with their cell phones as the bride was walking down the aisle. Who was that who hissed, “Pffffft! NO PAPARAZZI!”? Um…me. Yeah, it was me. Oops.
DMc is my third husband, and I’ve never had a structured wedding – so I lived vicariously through the whole shebang with Little Sister. There was much misting up on my part – especially watching Dad walk her down the aisle, and during the Bride and Father dance. *sniffle*
Some of the very best moments, though? Periodically escaping out to quiet corners of the venue with Baby Bro – neither of us thrives in “highly interactive mode.” For some people, the best bonding occurs in peaceful silence. The Shared DNA: it shows.
Day 6: Exhausted generalized lounging-about by all. NY Pizza, hooray! Meatballs are not quite what I remember. Maybe pepperoni and sausage next time. Cannot stop needing naps. Introverts of the world, unite for naptime, in separate rooms!
Day 7: Back to TX and DMc. Can I ever not get lost going between terminals at the Charlotte airport? “Atrium,” my fat old white ass. More like a glitch in the space/time continuum. Good exercise, though. Nothing gets the adrenaline flowing like nearly being tossed over the rail of a moving sidewalk by an octogenarian hauling ass at about 10 MPH.
Day 8: Back to work. Sweet Baby Jesus, REALLY?! I was only gone for 4 business days, and this much fell apart? I just…holy shit, I need a very large raise. Or a new job. Probably both.
It was well worth coming back to utter mayhem, though. The ability to reconnect in person with my Yankee Family was a gift I never expected during these crazed times, and I value it immensely. Genuine love overcomes time and distance, always. Love: we haz it.