Two Weddings Down

I'm back from Manchester. That was a lovely wedding. Truly.

C and I have been friends since we were 18. We've kept in touch over the many years, sometimes more than others. And saw each other every few years or so. It's strange to think I've known her for so long. And I know about all of these people in her life, as she has many friends from many different places. And we all hear about each other but we are pretty much all never in one large group together.

When her dad gave the father of the bride speech, he read a quote from an email from a friend of hers in regards to her hen night which was something along the lines of, "You are truly blessed with a lovely and diverse circle of friends.". And having seen them all in one large space, I have to say I agree completely.

I was a bit nervous because I was also going to see E who I had a bit of an obsession/problem with many years ago. I believe our interaction ended with a 4am texting fight and him saying 'have a nice life.'. But even that went alright. We spoke pleasantly and in fact I spoke with all of that circle of C's friends (who I hadn't really spoken to since the same time period). And everyone was really lovely and nice and friendly and it was just fine. So that was good.

And I caught up with some other friends of C's who I have always liked and gotten along with and never see often, and that was great.

The boutique hotel was pretty extravagant but really nice. Huge comfortable bed with a large feather duvet and feather pillows and a huge deep bath and really nice free products. I enjoyed that bit of relaxation. I think I needed it. I can already tell I'm getting horribly stressed about leaving on Thursday for NY. So much to do.... it's really just maddening.

But it will be nice to be back home as well. Lots of people I saw this weekend who I hadn't seen for a while all commented on how my accent had 'softened'. So I think it's time for a cultural injection.

And to keep up with other stories, I"m still not settled emotionally. Still depressed. But the weekend was a reasonably good distraction for a large part of it. Still... maybe it's the flights coming up (the flights to and from Italy really didn't make me look forward to the next set) or maybe it's just the stress of being with my family.

Or maybe it's that so many people I know are wrapped up about talking about or dealing with relationship issues, that it makes me think about my own and that's never a good thing for me to focus on for any extended length of time.

Anyway. I need to go unpack and start thinking about what I need to take on Thursday. The ever delicate balance of just enough clothes to get by with the assumption that I'm going shopping.

Hell yeah.