The Morning After?

I have to confess that as a teen or college student I didn’t have hangovers or episodes of having to recover very often. I did have a few dorm friends as a freshman that had issues with finding their rooms or getting their key out to unlock their rooms but I had become a Christian the spring before college and had realized that getting high or totally wasted wasn’t worth it. So as we wake up after the wedding and the late night bash of my Jon and his Jodi it was tough actually getting up. My Anne was rather crazy and had committed to take her sister in-law to the airport and have breakfast at 7am after getting home around 12:30 am.

Our couple had to navigate their friend’s exuberance in celebrating with being packed and ready to leave for their honeymoon trip to Cabo around 4am. The real dilemma was whether they stayed up all night, stay at the resort hotel, come home and then be transported to Sky Harbor or just go to the airport.  Jon had texted about a ride to the airport but never got back to me so I’m assuming that they made it and now are walking barefoot on the beach.

I know that after having two of my adult kids get married in the last year or so it is easy to become a snobby wedding critic. Yet, what stands out isn’t just the amazing sunset on a golf course resort, which was incredible, but the energy of the friends of my kids. It was so much fun watching about 20 of my son’s sports buds and college friends truly let it all out in honoring and loving their special friends.

It would be easy to complain or brag about the food, drinks or service but the blessing of yesterday was watching my son and our special friend Freddie relate to each other during the last 3 days. I am so thankful that our Freddie who had lived with us in the early 90’s had a truly significant impact on our Jon’s life. It’s almost funny to think that our Jon’s best man was in his 40’s with 2 kids.

It was such a treat to have Grandma Mary, Jon’s grandma, and her nephew and his wife be her escort to the wedding. I was thrilled to be able to have them see both Julie and Jon’s houses before returning to their LA homes. We were so fortunate to have almost all of our family present for the big day. The weather was picture perfect in the 70’s around 8pm. The DJ did an excellent job of selecting music that represented the broad spectrum of who was present.

I know that watching my Anne dance with her son at first could be almost a tear filled moment next to watching both of Jodi’s parents, who are divorced, dance as a threesome. It was incredible to know that Jodi’s best friend from college chose to come from Germany to be part of her special day with her German finance. As we slowly woke this morning I knew that my Jon had done more than just survive the last few days but actually showed his maturity and manliness as he was tossed between different friends, family and out of town guests.

I had an older friend make the comment that we were now officially empty nesters. The joyous exuberance from last night will last for a lifetime and I look forward to seeing my grandkids get married not having any sense what will be the in venue in 20 plus years.