Somber Celebrations

I know I blogged about this last year, but how on earth can I be so busy when I have no job? This time, I'm not even looking for a job! :) It really feels like the entire month of August has been a blur. I realized yesterday that we've had another one of those stretches where we'll be out of town for 3 of 5 weekends. I think that really makes a difference, since we've either been recovering from or getting ready for some trip most of the time.

This will be an interesting weekend... I think I mentioned before that we're going to Houston for the wedding of a med school friend. We've been looking forward to seeing him and experiencing a big, fat, Greek wedding (both the bride and the groom are Greek). Unfortunately, it's going to be a pretty subdued celebration. The groom's father passed away on Wednesday. Our friend thinks his dad knew he may not make it because in the days before he died, he made it very clear to everyone that if he should die, he wanted the wedding to go on. So (if our flight gets in on time) we'll be going to the Visitation tonight, funeral tomorrow morning, possibly rehearsal dinner tomorrow night (I'm not sure just yet if that's still on), and wedding on Sunday. I really feel bad for our friend. I've always been so thankful that Pop was able to be at our wedding, but from my experience, I know it's really hard to have such a happy experience mushed together with such a sad one. It really is hard for me to think about our wedding without thinking about losing Pop. I actually have never watched all of our wedding video because of that. (Well, partially... also because it's really not good quality at all and that made me really sad.) I probably would be able to watch it now (almost 5 years later already!), but that first time, it was so overwhelming and all I could think was that it was the last day I ever saw him alive. I really can't imagine what Manny will be going through having the funeral one day and the wedding the next. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He said he hopes that this weekend will still be a celebration - both of the marriage and the life of a great man - even if it is a little more subdued than planned.