Monday, August 22, 2005

Amber Tour 2005 Debriefing

Well folks, I made it through 2 weeks of flying around and vacationing, which was mostly an easy and fun thing even if I tend to make it sound like some arduous journey. Let’s recap, shall we?

Trip 1: Visit my family in Wheeling, WV and attend family reunion

Visiting the family was great fun. We have a cute cute new kitten named either Cleopatra or Cleocatra or some craziness like that. She’s a black farm kitty that likes to climb curtains, and fluctuates between completely awake for five minutes and then passed out in your lap the next five minutes. Oh yeah, and hanging out with my brother and sister was fun too. Actually, I think that was the best part, since I don’t really correspond with them much, and yet they are the ones most likely to get along with me. I could go on and on about siblings and bonding and such, but that’s tired material. My sister has grown into this absolutely gorgeous and talented woman, grabbing one of the lead roles in her first musical, and that took some adjusting on my part. Always, I will remember her as the 2 year old who used to dance with the plastic owl we kept in our yard (they were about the same height then).

The family reunion was O.K. Honestly, it was nice to see that side of the family, but I felt like some sort of weirdo for being in my mid-twenties, unmarried and without children and still in school. And it’s not that I’m sad about my state in life—really quite the opposite—but I wasn’t prepared to feel like the odd person out because of it. In Madison, if I were any of those things now it wouldn’t be weird, but it wouldn’t be the norm. Culture shock, man. That, and I got asked if I was still getting married, which I wasn’t. I hate having to drag out the “irreconcilable differences” monologue, especially when I thought I was done giving it. That’s the price of getting engaged—your relationship is no longer just your business and everyone has some right to drag it back out in the open.

Trip 2: Visit Andy’s family in Binghampton, NY

Oddly enough, this was more a vacation in some ways than visiting the folks in WV. Mainly because I was new to everything except Andy, and upstate New York is really beautiful and we stayed at his parents’ cottage on a lake. Breakfasts on the porch and late night canoe rides and hikes. Andy’s parents were lovely and seemed to approve of me (yay!), but still we escaped to Niagra Falls for a little bit. I had never been to see the falls, and had never been on a road trip with Andy, so it was an adventure. We drove up, visited the falls and the casinos, and the next day we drove home. Did you know they light up the falls at night? We stayed on the Canada side, and had a very special lady at the front desk who was likely getting kickbacks from Niagra on the Lake (some nice park you can stroll about) because she spent a good long time telling Andy how romantic it was and how much I would like it while I was standing right there. She also asked us if we were on our honeymoon. She also talked without a Canadian accent the day we met her, and then the next day she was all “A-boot” and “-aye.” It was all very special.

All in all, the second trip was longer and more relaxing—certainly a hot tub on the premises didn’t hurt. There was a lot of nervousness on my part, since I was meeting pretty much everyone for the first time, and I wanted to make good impressions. . . ehh, you know what I’m saying. And everyone was on their good behavior, so I didn’t leave with many good stories about meeting the more eccentric members of his family (oh well). It was all very lovely, and I was really thankful to spend time with someone I care about while well-rested.

Now I’m back in Madison, and I missed it in so many ways. Mainly being able to drive myself around places and having almost ubiquitous internet access, combined with all the friends I missed having around. And I’m not sick of spending time with Andy, so that’s a bonus. The only downside is now it’s BACK TO WORK, and with a vengeance given the school year is now so close. Here we go!

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