I mentioned on Saturday that my cousin was getting married. What I didn’t mention was that I was in North Carolina, where she now lives, for the big day.
I’m always a little hesitant about posting when I’m going to be away, at least when no one else is going to be here to watch the house. It’s not like I think there’s this large criminal element reading my weblog, waiting to pounce, but it does always seem like an open invitation: “Hey, I’ll be gone for three days, the house will be empty, and oh, by the way, the dog’s in the kennel while we’re away.”
But anyhow, that’s where I was: Wilmington, North Carolina.
We woke up early, around 5 am, on Saturday, and drove to LaGuardia for an 8 am flight, connecting in Atlanta. Aside from a slight delay and the screaming babies on both flights — matched only, later, by the screaming babies on both flights home — we arrived without a hitch. We met up with my sister and her husband, who had driven down from Maryland, and together we drove to the spot for the evening’s wedding and reception, the North Carolina Aquarium. It was an interesting venue, as you might expect, which we had to ourselves for several hours, but altogether, it was a lovely evening.
Of course, it’s an evening that very nearly wasn’t, thanks to a huge summer storm that came out of nowhere and kept most of the guests and the bridal party trapped behind a police roadblock, them on one side of flooded roads and lightning-fed fires, and the aquarium and we few early arrivals on the other.
For awhile there, it looked like both groups were trapped — us out at the beach, with no wedding party to speak of and no way back out to civilization, and them back out in town, with no way out to the beach and the evening’s festivities.
But the rain cleared, and apparently the police relented, and the rest of the evening was quite lovely.
We spent Sunday brunch at my aunt and uncle’s (and cousin’s) house, then walking and driving around Wilmington. We flew back this morning.
I feel a little out of the loop, having decided at the last minute not to take my iPad with me. Instead, I just brought along a couple of books, finishing one of them. But I’ve yet to do the Sunday crossword, or really even check my e-mail. And near the end of the flight home from Atlanta, when I was just exhausted but not tired enough to fall asleep, when I didn’t really feel like reading anymore, I could have done with a podcast or something.
The best Delta seemed able to offer were episodes of Glee and The Office with the sound turned down all the way.
Anyway, it was a nice weekend, but I’m glad I booked tomorrow off.