Digging up the Past

Tonight is one of those nights that I wish I could just plug my brain into my computer (via FireWire, of course) and just download all of my thoughts onto this page. I've got may more to tell than y fingers can possibly take, I think.

Friday night, Lauren and Mike invited us over for dinner. They prepared a delicious spaghetti and salad combo while we provided dessert from Food Lion. Later, we went to Wal-Mart and bought a couple of board games to keep us busy. It was a really good change of pace..away from the usual watching movies, playing Quake, and mud wrestling each other. It was a really relaxing night and I hope we plan on doing it again soon. Perhaps we'll host next time. Jeesh, you think Food Lion could provide boxed dinners? :)

Saturday, we went up to Jeremy's wedding. It was at a little church about 10 minutes from Mom & Dad's house. It was a military-themed wedding with Marines in uniform abound. Even Jeremy was dressed in his Marines uniform. We made our way in and sat beside my high school tech education teacher, Mr. Ridgeway. What a perfect person to sit beside at Jeremy's wedding. Mr. Ridgeway was quite possibly the best teachers I had in high school, maybe only second to the late Joe Hiney. We both sat there gazing around the room at all of the people that we knew, or didn't know but thought that we should. He pointed out some people to me that I didn't recognize as being that person. I began realizing why I hadn't hesitated in accepting the invitation to Jeremy's wedding.

The Marines escorted Jeremy's mom and Lindsay's (the bride) mom to their seats. It was so good to se these people that I really hadn't seen in 4 or more years. Jeremy's sister, now all grown up, married, and with a little baby boy. The best man in the ceremony was Ike Cupp, a great friend of mine (and Jeremy's) during high school. He was easy to recognize by his ears.

The rest of the ceremony was great. As I expected, Jeremy got a little choked up while reciting his vows. He's always had that emotional side, although he never likes to show it to anyone. As I watched him up there all dressed up professing his neverending love for this girl, memories of all the times we spent together began flooding my brain. It even made me a little emotional. I don't think I would get that emotional about any of my other friends. I feel a special closeness with Jeremy that I don't feel with any of my other friends. Gosh, if you could've tapped into brain, you might have thought I was sitting at his funeral, not his wedding.

After the wedding, we wired the horn of their car to their brake lights on the "getaway car". They weren't leaving for their honeymoon quite yet, though. The reception was nice, followed by an after-reception party at Daniel's house. It ended up being outside where they had built a giant bon-fire. Everyone from the ceremony came, and more. This gave me even more time to catch up with old friends and find out what everyone was doing, who was married, etc.

One thing jumped out at me throughout the day Saturday: physically, all of us had changed..some more than others. But the most important thing, the bond between all of us friends had not changed a bit. At the party, it was almost like we had all been magically transported back in time to 1996, the last time we were all together like this. In our case: People change, great friendships don't.

It occured to me as we were driving back to Richmond today how many people I've gotten re-aquainted with in the last week. I saw family that I haven't seen in 10 years at Aunt Nina's funeral. I saw friends that I hadn't spoken with in 4 or 5 years this weekend. And as corny as it sounds, it made me realize how important it is to keep in touch with those whom you care for.

And even though I know they don't visit this site: Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Cupp. Take care of him, Lindsay. He's one of the absolute best friends I've ever had.

Posted by Jeff at January 14, 2002 12:25 AM