05/27/05 Part 1

The alarm went off around 5:00am. Ugh. Golf was scheduled for today. Meet at the Hilton at 6:00am. Ugh. I hit the snooze... I finally roused myself at about 5:30 and decided that I was not golfing. I called everyone to let them know that I was staying and sleeping. I loved seeing my friends and golfing with them, but I just could not do it today. My dad - who was a little surprised I had planned on playing on Friday anyway - applauded my decision to sleep and run a few errands.

My mom woke up a little later and she headed to the spa. Her, Rach, and the bridesmaids had appointments for the morning. I woke up a little after 8:00. Much better. I needed to do just a couple things; get keys made, and get my hair trimmed a bit. I waited a bit and decided to give Rach a call. I didn't know when her appointment was, but figured I would just leave a message telling her I was around - it was about 9:00am. I called and she answered. She said she decided not to go to the spa that day for the same reasons I decided not to golf.

I took off to get my errands completed. First I stopped by Ryan's room to drop off the rings and Marriage License. Hopefully getting out would get my mind off of things. First was the hair shop, or barber, or stylist... whatever you want to call it. I went in and asked that she cut my hair and trim it, but have it look like it had not been freshly cut. She paused a second... then said "okay."

After about 15-20 minutes, I went to Wal-Mart for the keys. 2 keys, 2 copies of each. I went to the key section... "I'd like 2 copies of each of these keys please." The woman took a minute to look for the key models (2 different types). She stepped back and said "I can make copies of this one, but we're out of this other key." I paused a second. My thoughts went like this in a matter of milli-seconds; "Ok you make a copy of one, but not both, so do you seriously expect me to have duplicates of one of the keys made here, then go to somewhere else and get duplicates of the other? What kind of sense does that make? Do I look like someone who would take that deal?" She must have read that on my face, because she promptly referred me to Home Depot, down the street. Whew.

So I go to Home Depot. They tell me that they make keys at register 16. Cool. I started walking toward the registers. Ok I see 1, 2, 3, 4 all the way to 12. Wait a minute. Where's 16? Let me harken back to my First Grade days and look at the numbers again and make sure I am identifying them correctly. Yep. 1-12. Damn. For a moment I felt like a Freshman who was just tole by an upperclassman to go to the 5th floor of a 4 story building. Determined, I began to look. There must be other registers around. As I was looking, I got a call from Nute. He was a little hung over. Apparently, he and Dom went to the bridesmaid's hotel room after they left my apartment, and drank a little - or in Nute's case, a lot. I told him I was looking for phantom register 16 and we made plans to meet at my apartment so he could get the guitars and stuff at 1:00. After much longer than I should have spent looking for this register, I decided to ask someone else... maybe I heard wrong. So I went up to register 7. "Where can I get keys made?" She pointed and said "Register Sixteen." I looked in the direction she was pointing and there it was... smack dab in the middle of some sub section of the store - an odd place for a register really, but instead of filing a complaint, or asking to talk to someone in charge of the store layout, I simply thanked the young lady and walked over to the register.

With my errands run, I had nothing to do for a while. I made my way back to the hotel. I called Rach again to see if she was nervous (she said "no") and to let her know that I was meeting Nute at the apartment at 1:00. It was important for us to not see each other that day. She was planning on heading to the spa around noon, so all should be okay. I also received a call from our DJ, who was at the site looking around. We talked about a couple things, and I felt better about that. Once I was back at the hotel, Ryan gave me a call. He, Renea, and Owen were heading over to the mall, and he wanted to know if I wanted lunch. Yummy. I immediately accepted the offer. 6" Turkey sub... nothing too hard or rough.

Rachael and I had decided long ago to say our own vows. Up until this day, I thought I would just go up there without anything written down and I would be fine. I mean, I spent many years as a trainer, and thought I spoke fairly well on the spot. I knew I would be emotional, and the last thing I wanted was my mind to go blank. Then there was a distinct possibility that I would get up there and start rambling on and on and on... I have a tendency to do that at times too. That said, after I talked to Ryan, I decided to actually write down what I wanted to say, in a concise, little paragraph. It took 1 try. Hmmm.... now I needed to kill some time before Ryan and Renea got there, so I did the only thing I could. I paced. Occasionally I sat on the bed and flipped through the channels - not searching for anything specific, and not paying attention to what was on anyway - then I would get up again.

Then the phone rang. It was the woman who was going to look after our animals (Rachel... same name, different spelling), and who was responsible for getting Sophie (our puppy) to the ceremony. I had keys made for her. She was on her way from Columbia, and could stop by and get the keys. Perfect. I let her know where I was. I hung up the phone and resumed pacing.

About 10 minutes later Rachel called and said she was in the lobby. I told her I would be right down with the keys.

Shortly after that Ryan, Renea and Owen showed up with lunch. Yay. And bringing Owen was a good way to distract me. Just watching him is funny, and sweet. We talked and ate. Just what I needed. I was planning on going over to the Cloisters really early - and Ryan offered to go with me. All we had to do is figure out the car situation.