So one of the big events occupying the first part of this year was my eldest son’s wedding. I know I previously posted back around Easter 2010 that Zach proposed to Chrissy at the beautiful Orton Plantation. Although I have a lot of pictures of the plantation you might want to watch Firestarter with a very young Drew Barrymore and note that the compound she blows up and destroys at the end of the movie is Orton Plantation. You will be shocked to learn that she didn’t actually blow it up with fire created in her mind. I must admit that I pleasantly avoided most parts of wedding planning. From what I observed this is a grueling exercise and should not be attempted by men. I simply needed to recover from the carpal tunnel created by checkwriting. I advised Zach to stay away in Jacksonville and avoid as much input as possible. I'd have to say that other than answering the question as to whether she looks fat in those jeans that offering wedding plan input is the next worse trap.
The wedding was February 26th and of course it snowed a couple of inches that day. There were no real hitches though and everything was beautiful. The service was great, the flowers were beautiful, the food was awesome, and my dance moves were the envy of the room. I apologize to all the people I did not really talk to. I admit that I spent most of the time on the dance floor and not mingling and chatting which is highly unusual for me. I wanted to enjoy the party though and I did fully. After the reception, I of course went to George Webb’s for a breakfast skillet and coffee with friends to help sober up before going to bed at 5:00am.
The next weekend, Ike and I as well as Chrissy’s brother-in-law Chris, assisted loading up all of Zach and Chrissy’s belongings and furniture in a trailer, pickup, and two cars. We headed out as a caravan to Jacksonville, NC where Zach had secured a duplex. It was an adventure in moving as of course it started raining from 3 hours before we left covering the entire route to NC until about an hour from Jacksonville. This forced us to use a tarp on the pickup to cover the furniture and it also caused a good 4 hour delay in travel time stopping to fix the tarps as they came loose so many times. Then of course there is Zach’s OCD car window cleaning problem and gas filling organizational issues that made for an extra hour of travel time. We did make it there and get them all moved in. Within a couple of days the house was in pretty good shape. I shall simply state that Zach didn’t exactly prepare the duplex for a fitting presentation for his new bride. I’d say his presentation resembled more of what you’d imagine if all of a Marine’s belongings were thrown in a blender and then dumped in various piles throughout the rooms. Chrissy was able to turn what looked like an Afghanistan land mine field into a home quickly.
Seven weeks later Karen and I visited for a long Easter weekend. The house was fixed up very nicely and we had a good time. Karen and I drove down in two cars. Karen drove the new used car we were bringing to Zach and Chrissy because Chrissy’s car had blown its engine a few short weeks after being there. I drove the 4Runner pulling Zach’s RX7 on a car dolly. This is where I comment on the little piece of joy one finds when their children move out and take their stuff with them. That car had occupied a space in my garage for 4 years. NOW that space was cleared up for Katie to park her car in the garage. Sigh.
