E-Brother’s Wedding…

Well… the wedding is finally over. Friday morning I woke around five and left my room at five thirty. I ate breakfast and cleaned up as much as I could. Making sure everything I needed was ready, I then made sure the cats had enough food and water left to last at least two and a half to three days. During this my parents left a little after eight to take the dogs to a kennel. Waiting on them I eventually decided to rest in bed again since I had only received about… three hours of sleep the night before.
They returned around nine thirty. Mom woke me up, we packed the car and were out by nine fifty. Mom and I wound up sleeping the whole trip while dad drove. I don’t quite remember when we got into the city but it was maybe around noon. We then went to the hotel.
It seems my dad had spent enough money for only one room instead of two. By the price he thought he had gotten two rooms, but that was not the case. Therefore, Mom and I took the one already booked and he with my brother took a cheaper hotel room at a hotel opposite us while a mall was the separator.
We waited a while until we knew my brother was near to go downstairs to eat lunch. The restaurant in the hotel was a grill place. We ordered while waiting since it would take my brother about ten minutes until he could arrive. I had ordered a pizza since it was the only thing on the menu I’d eat with no problem.
Well, my brother arrived only to note he wasn’t very hungry, so after looking at the menu I offered to split my pizza with him since I likely wouldn’t eat all of it. It was settled since it was pepperoni. The pizza was okay. They made it have a slightly spicy sauce that didn’t interest me greatly, however. I like my frozen pizzas baked in the oven for a while just fine.
We separated after that, my dad and brother heading to their hotel and my mother and me to our room. I collapsed soon enough and I am not sure what my mom did. Anyway, she woke me up from my nap and I got dressed as did she. Dad and my brother showed up and all together we used the family car to go to the rehearsal.
I suppose I could go all into it, but my mind doesn’t want to so whatever. We met my to-be-sister-in-law’s friends and family. We waited around for the stragglers to show up. I mainly watched as everyone got the procession down and typically wondered why I was there again. When I say there, I didn’t mean the rehearsal, but the wedding in general. I paid no role and was pretty much like an unnecessary accessory just added in really. Yeah, yeah… my reason to be there was for my eldest brother to join and witness him on a day of pivotal value in his entire life. I just wonder if my being there was truly important though.
Yes, yes – this is about the bride and groom, not you. I know that. At the same time, however… would it have been at all significant if I hadn’t been there? I suppose it would be since I am his youngest sister and we had a good relationship as children. I suppose it would be since I get along with the bride just fine. In all logical sense, however, I contributed nothing. Well, I guess I contributed a sense of moral support… Whatever.
Well, after the rehearsal Dad and my brother dropped us off at our hotel. I collapsed again.  Mom mapped out a way to find a tea shop and a place that could sell her a hair brush since she forgot to bring hers. She got back at five thirty and woke me up. We got ready, Dad and my brother showed up and when we were all ready we left for the rehearsal dinner.
The restaurant was Italian. We arrived around the same time the wedding committee with my eldest brother and his bride-to-be did. We all entered to the reserved room. There were the bride-to-be’s grandmother and an old friend of my brother who was to be his Best Man. Apparently my brother had been his Best Man in turn when he got married. He is in the army, so he flew all the way in from England and had arrived in the US just ten minutes before he found the restaurant. Others to arrive was another of my brothers’ childhood friends, the bride-to-be’s god parents and various others. I pretty much just stuck by my mom. Though some of my brothers’ childhood friends were there, I never really knew them. Again, I wondered why I was even there and simply thought about how I wanted to be home.
The dinner was nice… I could eat something from every course. As for the socializing… well, as said, I didn’t really know anyone. So I mainly just stared off, listened to others despite half the conversation was lost on me… and I mainly just wanted to be home. My being there again seemed utterly pointless. I had nothing to contribute in the conversation, had no memories others discussed about and really related to little. Oh, well.
When the bride-to-be’s father asked me how I was doing, I could only shrug. He was a nice fellow. He brought along his fiancée and she seemed nice. I liked the grandmother despite we spoke briefly. I realized I always seem to have most ease with the well functioning elderly. I loved my great aunt Lillian and I found a fondness for the bride-to-be’s grandmother. I don’t remember my own grandmother too well, though.
Not much really needs to be said for the dinner I guess. The bride-to-be’s godmother sang a song, people thanked my parents for the dinner and I got a gander of the bill and wondered about chipping in despite I can only offer little. We left around nine or so.
Once my mother and I got showers we both pretty much collapsed. It was ten thirty. Mom fell asleep quickly. It took me a while but I slept well. I dreamed of my cats. I woke around six thirty and opened up the blinds to semi-wake my mom and to make sure the room was no longer black as ink. I went back to sleep after that for safety measures.
I woke again around ten thirty. Mom had been well up since then and I just made sure I kept up my “retain as much energy as possible” plan. Dad and my brother showed up and we all decided to eat an early lunch. After having trouble deciding on a place we stopped by an Italian restaurant since we were running short on time – my brother was a groomsman and needed to get to the place early to help set things up and the like.
It was okay. Again, like the pizza I ate for lunch the day before, it wasn’t quite my style. The sauce was a bit strong for me and I thought the price was ridiculous. Everything here is priced ridiculously. That is one of the things I dislike about traditional weddings.
Well, after eating we split up again. I caught in maybe an hour of sleep after that and was woken up just in time to get dressed.  Dad arrived, got dressed in our hotel room and then the three of us headed to the wedding grounds.
Waiting around in the parking lot were all the groomsmen and my eldest brother all dressed up. Greetings were said and then we entered the reception room. There we ran into my deceased grandmother’s next door neighbor who has been my eldest brother’s next door neighbor for some years now. She tried to refresh my memory on some things, but it was like hearing a book for the first time for me. It refreshed nothing. I just lack a decent ability to recall things from the past. It was pleasant and enlightening, though.
I later saw my mother’s cousin Patty and her husband as well as my “Aunt” Karen, another of my mom’s cousins, and her son, Justin, and daughter, Ashley, with their respective spouses and children. In that I met said children for the first time. All of them are still babies. Justin and his wife have two children – I believe they are both boys. Ashley and her husband have a baby girl. I’m not really a baby person, but I liked them. I like kids and babies on a more “look at them” level. On a baby-sit, interact like mad level… not so much.
Well, I eventually sat down, already tiring just from the little interaction, I was the only one in the from row of the groom’s side. My parents were to sit on the bride’s side since they led the procession. My sister of course wasn’t there and my brother was a groomsman. So, yeah… I was alone on the front row. Great. I survived, of course, but… yeah.
The procession occurred, the bride was beautiful and I was quite happy for them. I just still didn’t understand my being there. Well, it didn’t feel as bad as at the rehearsal dinner. At the dinner I had felt that old feeling again: On the inside looking out.
When the ceremony was over the guests went to the concession and I just hung around my parents until they entered to mingle with Patty and her husband. They were soon called for pictures. I was told I wouldn’t be needed so I made very small talk with my mother’s relations. Then the bride came and told me I was supposed to go to the picture taking too while she went to get her grandmother. I joined in just a few pictures, did a couple of plastered smiles that dropped as soon as the camera flashed and some of my regular, small smiles that wind up not looking like smiles when I actually see them in pictures or mirrors.
When the groom’s family was no longer needed Mom, Dad, my brother and I joined the other guests. There were finger foods. We ate little. Dad mainly drank wine. I think I was about the same way as I was at the rehearsal… I sat quietly, listened, stared off and on occasion made a sound.
When the speeches were made I clapped, laughed and listened. I smiled on occasion and so forth.  I will not say it was mechanical, but I cannot say it was full of life either. I found some things touching, some things cute, some things funny, some things boring… so on. I just know… I still am very alien to most humans. I admitted such to my mom as well as that I sometimes cannot even relate to my own family. She seemed to understand.
Well, we left around six I think. We couldn’t find the bride to say goodbye, but we bid farewell to my eldest brother. We headed to the hotel and got dressed into our regular clothes. Mom wanted to go back to the tea place she had encountered earlier and we ate dinner there. Like all the restaurants, minus the one we ate at for the rehearsal dinner, I thought the food could have been better and it was ridiculously priced.
With full stomachs we headed back to the hotel. Dad dropped Mom and me off and went on to his hotel. My brother, who stayed behind with the groomsmen plans to hang out with them tonight I believe.
For once I’ve stayed up. Checking a few sites that I try to check regularly, I now got down to writing this. I’m sure I am leaving a lot of things out, but thinking clearly isn’t really a strong suit right now. I think I am done with this now. Yes.