One Fine Day

Catching Up

So you may be wondering where I've been for the past few months. They have been very eventful to say the least! I am finally feeling refreshed and caught up on everything in genenral, so I'll do my best to fill you in.

Life has been crazy the last several weeks. First of all we had our friends out to visit at the beginning of May and had an exciting adventure in Joshua Tree National Park. We discovered our new favorite Mexican restaurant with the best margaritas ever on Cinco de Mayo. It was a great weekend. I'll tell the whole Joshua Tree story in greater detail later.

About two weeks later my in-laws came to visit for a week and a half. Their trip was over Memorial weekend and we went up to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park. We did lots of hiking and drove through the parks to see the beautiful sights, including giant Sequoia trees, a rainbow stretching from one side of a canyon to the other, and even a black bear! It was great to spend time with the family and get out of the city for a few days.

Wil packed up his life here and moved out a few days after his family left. He is a camp counselor for the summer at Spring Hill in Indiana. It is great to have an extra bedroom and closet, but it still seems strange not to have him here. After all, he moved into this apartment with us and lived here for 6 months. We miss having him around.

Only 3 days after Wil left I flew home to Michigan. It was probably the worst time I could have gone home, but I was in a friend's wedding on June 10th, so I decided to take a whole week off and go back the weekend before to see my family and friends. Unfortunately that week fell on exam week for Luke so it was a solo trip for me.

I arrived on Saturday night and my family took me out to my favorite pizza place in the world (Fricano's in Grand Haven) and Sunday I got to go to my favorite church (Ada Bible)and see my friends, then ate a huge dinner with my family and grandparents. The next few days were blissfully spent with my family, my sister and my closest friends, catching up on the last 6 months since I had seen them face to face.

On Thursday afternoon I left for Mt Pleasant to begin the wedding festivities for my best friend from high school and early college. It would have been nice if the wedding was in Grand Rapids - more time for family and friends, but I thought it would be fun to spend the last few days with my friend before her wedding. I figured we would spend a lot of time talking and catching up and preparing for the wedding. How wrong I was!

The bachelorette party on Thursday night, rehearsal dinner Friday night and especially the wedding on Saturday could not have been more of a disaster! I hadn't met her fiance and when I finally did I had a very bad feeling. The sort of feeling that keeps you from being happy for your friend because you are so concerned. I had hoped that my fears we unwarranted, but even in my naievety I knew there was reason for concern.

I'll spare you the details. To sum up a very long story, I returned home on Sunday night exhausted and emotionally drained, but at least I thought the drama was over. I went back to work the next morning feeling very much like I needed a very long vacation after my vacation. Later that same day I received an angry call from my friend and through the grapevine found out that she and her groom are both cocaine addicts and her parents found them out. It all makes sense now, all of the unexplainably strange behavior. However she blames me for her parents finding out, even though I didn't know it myself! I really should have figured it out though, after staying with them for 3 days.

Her parents went to take her out of her situation and get help for her. She is going through rehab and I hope she will come out of this completely and learn to make better choices with her life. The ironic thing is that she isn't legally married, even though she went through the whole wedding ceremony. They didn't apply for the marriage license until 2 days before the wedding, so it was going to arrive in the mail on Tuesday after their wedding.

She was back at her parents' house on Monday night. I hope she sees how lucky she is that she's not married to a dishonest drug dealer and decide not to go through with actually signing the marriage license. I'm really not going to hold my breath that she's going to choose a better life than that, but I will be praying for her. Beyond that, I am not even going to think about it. Never mind that I was her only friend who was there for her and spent a week of vacation without Luke at hardly the ideal time to come home, only to receive a verbal slap in the face accusing me of telling on her to her mom and dad! I really don't need friends like that, though the whole situation breaks my heart. Maybe someday she'll call, but who knows? I'm not making any more effort. I just can't deal with any more.

Anyway, I've been home for just over a week and finally tonight feel caught up on life. The kitchen and bathroom are clean, the laundry is done (almost) and my lunch is made for tomorrow. I am home relaxing with my wonderful husband. Finally there is rest for my weary body and soul. I am going to sleep good tonight...

Love from California

posted by n @ 5:00 PM