Colorado

Ok, so I’m sorry I haven’t posted. My best excuse is that I was a) in Colorado and b) recovering from Colorado.

So, the good stuff first… Colorado. I HEART Colorado. It is my home and my life and I adore it. The people, the places, the familiarity, the mountains, the culture. Everything. I had 3 ½ amazing, fun-filled, soul refreshing days with the people I love last weekend. It was SO good for me. It helped me to step back and re-evaluate, and clear my head. And let loose and party with the greatest friends in the world!

*Yes - I realize the sign is ironic. I've always wondered why "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" is done is ugly brown and white. Way to go tourism committee*

Have you ever been someplace where you just feel welcomed and loved and a part of things? Where you walk down the street and take pride in that place? Where you feel connected to the people around you? Where your heart is happy simply because you are there? Where no matter how far you go, you can always come back and pick up where you left off and feel at home? That’s Colorado to me.

How beautiful is that? How can you not love it?

Telluride, Colorado - One of my alltime favorite places.

Old Town Fort Collins - This is my stomping ground!

*Side note – This is where most people ask me “Why the HELL did you leave?” - I am working on that post*

Anyways, while I was there, I also had to deal with family. Lots of family. People I haven’t seen since I was 12 kinda family. Good Lord.

I did manage to avoid them for the majority of my trip home. However, considering the main reason for my visit was my little sister’s wedding, it did become unavoidable on Sunday afternoon. When I showed up at the ceremony, I was greeted with a mix of surprise and agitation. Apparently, no one really thought I was coming since I had been completely AWOL for the rehearsal dinner and other pre-wedding festivities. But for VERY good reason, just for the record.

So I show up to the wedding, meet up with my buffer/BFF/sanity inducing friend, Nate, and head into the trenches. The ‘rents didn’t say too much at that point. Probably because they were occupied with making sure there were blankets available for all the guests since my sister decided to have an OUTDOOR wedding in MARCH in COLORADO. Really?

I ran into my grandma, my great aunt, my other sister and her, um, husband. (I have a hard time with this one too. Somehow a low-life drug dealer doesn’t really qualify as “husband” to me, but she married him, so I guess it counts).

Anyways, so I go to take a seat, and am escorted to the back on the groom’s side. No prob, they’re just filling open space at this point. So I take a look at the program. It’s elegant. It’s pretty. It totally left my boys and I out completely. Really. It has every family member in my immediate and extended family listed on the program under “family”, except me, J, and KK. Ouch. Not completely unexpected, but still a slap in the face.

I have to be honest. At this point I am seriously questioning why in the world I even showed up. And Nate telling me “That’s bullshit, I would just leave” wasn’t helping the cause any. But again, I realize it’s my sister’s wedding and therefore not about me. So I sat there. Fuming a little bit. But silent.

After the unique, albeit freezing, wedding ceremony, it was reception time. My favorite. Mostly because I knew there would be wine. Lots of wine. Free wine. Yay. The guests were escorted to the reception pavilion while the family and wedding party went off to take pictures. I went with the guests to the reception.

About 5 minutes into the first glass of wine, a photographer’s assistant appeared and asked me to please come participate in the pictures. I politely declined. And finished that glass. 2 minutes after that, my dad walked in with the same request. Again, I simply said I’d prefer not to based on prior conversation with the bride and groom. That didn’t go over well. Maybe because I told my dad “no”. Maybe because the father of the bride had been drinking since 11 A.M. Either way, not pretty. And followed by a couple more quick glasses of wine. I am a strong believer in not making a scene in front of people. Ever. I learned this from growing up in a crazy family who somehow managed to appear sane to those on the outside. My father, however, has his moments when he forgets the lesson that he engrained so deeply in me. That was one of those moments.

Fast forward through a sit down dinner with my parents high class friends and all of the sudden it’s toast time. And it’s necessary for me to make a toast.  (Why? Cuz I can put together a semi-eloquent speech on the fly, and I supposed everyone was pretty sure that since I hadn’t made reference to sister's misgivings thus far, I would continue to avoid them. Ha.)

I have to be honest, I don’t really remember what I said. There had been a LOT of alcohol at that point. I got a lot of compliments on it. I really only remember throwing in a few innuendos about trust and family, but they were covered in niceties, so it worked out.

And I caught the bouquet. LOL. Yea, right.

And then I left, went to bed, and got back on a plane to Houston. Thank God.

I’ve had ALL the family I can handle for a loooong time.

But at least now everyone is married. There is not even one person who is still single.

Except me.

I will stay single. Or elope.