back in slow motion

Oh, blog, let me get my head on straight. Maybe I'll just give you the condensed version, since reading of familial matters can be tedious.

The Wedding
My sister's wedding was wonderful and went off without a hitch. In pictures it will look perfect, but you will not see the intense heat and humidity, nor will you see the layers upon layers of clothing groomsmen had to endure. My entire family was there (it's a large family, and very weird to see both sides in one room - out of logistics, not familial politics), as well as neighbors and family friends we'd grown up with. A very "This is Your Life" experience that felt strangely impersonal since I was running around doing a bunch of stuff like shaking hands, giving personal updates, and ushering folks around. A whirlwind affair where Boy got to meet my entire family, my sister got to join a new family, and my mother got to see her year of planning fulfilled.


Virginia Beach
Seeking relaxation, Boy left his laptop in LA(!), and we flew to VAB to be with his aunt, his dad, and stepmom. A night or so before we arrived Aunt Annette tripped over a grandchild's playing in the middle of the night and cracked her upper in half. Not "in the middle half" but "diagonal" in half. Ouch. Did you know that don't put real casts on anymore? She looked like the beginning stages of C-3PO. Sadly, the remnants of Hurrican Fay kept us mostly in doors for the first part of the week, parting slightly so we could go on a long hike in the woods, drink beer at dinner and pass out in the parent's camper. Did I mention Dad and Stepmom have a camper and have spent 2 months down by the Bay? They do.


The District of Columbia
Since we were only three hours away, and in town for such a long trip, we took a weekend trip up to DC to see my boys (John, Jamie, Chris, Glenn, and Brian). Boy, who is an airplane nut (nay, fanatic) finally got to go to the Air & Space Museum, and we checked out the Jim Henson retrospective at the Ripley Center. It was more art/video than actual puppets, but great (even if the gift shop was geared towards the Sesame Street crowd).


Baltimore
On saturday we took the train up to visit Brian, a new northern resident. Strangely, Friend Ben was also in town visiting from San Francisco, as was Boy's friend Molly who lives in nearby PA. With daylight fading we took a trip to Charm City Cakes, home of Ace of Cakes. We didn't go in, nor did we ask to, even though I want to put Mary Alice in my pocket. We then ate at the inner harbor, seated outside, when the Fay remnants finally unleashed a massive thunderstorm. You miss thunderstorms in LA, and if you can't get it in Texas, then the east coast is just as good. Brian wanted to do a pub crawl, which I want go into too much detail here, suffice to say we were getting sleepy, the company was great, and the bars were from a different era.


DC Part 2
With a day left in DC, we went to visit Boy's old friend Mo, who lives near the Zoo. Let me preface this by saying aside from the big travel holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Comicon), Boy and I don't think in terms of Holidays. When we planned this trip we had no idea it was falling on Labor Day. We had no clue that the next day all of New England was going back to school. And thus, to our great misfortune we took on the National Zoo. Seeing all the kids slamming and screaming on windows, for the first time, I felt really awful at the Zoo. You get upset that they're trapped in there, and then you get even more upset that they can't be released because most of them have nowhere to go. A quick rooftop BBQ later, and Boy was at John and Jamie reading vintage Dean Koontz and I was at Taint, a monthly alternative dance night I visited in my "youth" (4 years ago). A brunch, a three hour drive, and we were back in...


Virginia Beach Part 2
With Fay gone and the sun shining, I took the day off while Boy went to the beach with the 'rents. Annette is a great cook, so we did some baking, some eating, and a smidge of drinking, so the next day I was well rested for a beach/kayak double header before heading to the airport for our (long) trip home.

Los Angeles
We are home. The dogs were ecstatic, if moderately well behaved for housesitter Angela. Well, ok, Murphy and Tucker were great, but Ginger can jump the backyard fence and clear the kitchen window over the sink. Sleep. Laundry. Back to work.