Ok, this post is not going to be as dramatic as the title might lead you to believe. I am the hypocrite here, and only because when I find a moment and remember to click on blogspot from my favorites column, I am disappointed if there have been no updates from friends. And yet I haven't posted since December of last year.
So where to start. This last year has been a combination of wonderful and not so great. May 16 was indeed the best day of my life and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Even though the weather was cold and windy, it was sunny and didn't rain which was all I cared about. The number of people was perfect, the garden was gorgeous, and I felt like a queen for a day. The minister did his sermon on the passage from Ruth that we chose, which was our favorite. We both cried, our parents cried, other people cried...it was awesome. One thing not many people were able to see was that there were two ducks, a male and female, standing at the fountain behind the minister the whole time. I thought that was neat. The reception was great as well. I wish I would have gotten to spend more time with people, but I suppose that's how any bride feels. We have yet to get out our thank you cards, but they are coming!!
I am now married to a wonderul man that makes me feel loved and safe on a daily basis. Like any couple we have our heated discussions, but because we were friends before we dated we seem to be able to really talk things out. I can tell him anything and vice versa. The best part is that not only does he love me, but I KNOW he loves me. He does so many things for me, and not just things like making taco dip for my work cook-out (which he did last night) but little things like putting my water bottle in the fridge when I forget. Things that may not seem like a lot by themselves, but all add up to the fact that I'm with the person I was supposed to be with.
My family has had quite the time lately as well. My cousin, Amanda, moved up to Wisconsin and in with my mom in June. She is originally from Indiana and was tired of the city she was living in and its limited resources. The city, Richmond, is actually where our parents are originally from. Amanda's mom is the only one that never left. Anyway, she's living with Mom and working for Strategic Fundraising and I just really like having her around. We're the youngest of all the cousins, and most of the others are quite a bit older, so she and I were always close.
Our oldest aunt, Auntie Jo, had surgery last month to have a knee replacement. My mom went down and stayed with her husband who has Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and can't stay alone. (I all of a sudden feel like I'm writing a Merry Medical Christmas letter...don't feel bad if you have no idea what that means). Shortly after that both Auntie Jo and Auntie Trisha (Amanda's mom) were in car accidents on the same day....what the crap? LOL Only fender benders and everyone is fine.
Anyway, when it rains it pours. On July 21st my friend Nicole passed away. She was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (the same kind of tumor Ted Kennedy had) in August of '08. She went through chemo and radiation and then was trying Avastin. She was a fighter and never gave up the belief that she would beat it, so it was a shock to find out she had passed.
The day of Nicole's funeral also happened to be the day of the Coldplay concert. Her funeral was in Milwaukee and my friend Jo and her friend Zane were nice enough to let me ride with them to the funeral, and then we met Gina and Amanda after the funeral to go to the concert. Adam and his sister Naomi also met us at Alpine. As usual they were awesome and we had a blast. It seemed weird to be attending a concert on such a solemn day, but in a way it also seemed to be a celebration, which is what her husband asked of us.
The summer has absolutely flown by and I've gotten nothing done that I planned and have seen people about 5% as much as I wanted to. I lost my job at St. Raphael's as the music director. It was taken over by Karen Dean which, according to her, has been in the works for a few years. (thanks for telling me) I'm actually ok with it though. In fact, when the east side parishes asked me to be the director for their teen mass, I turned them down. Granted it was less money, but it wasn't about that. Jon and I plan on starting a family soon, and we've enjoyed the lack of stress that the summer break from the Lifeteen band has given us. So I decided just to stick with being a frontline member of the Core Team and I'll occasionally sing with the band. Having a relationship with the teens and leading them in their relationship with God is really the most rewarding thing about LifeTeen, so I'd rather stick with that.
In October Jon and I will be moving into a duplex. We've kind of had it with having neighbors whose balconies are only 75 feet from ours and being able to hear their loud parties and kids crying. We've never had an issue with our immediate neighbors being loud, it's always the people in the building behind ours. Anyway, the duplex has a full basement for the music and recording equipment as well as our treadmill, and then there are two bedrooms upstairs. We also have a deck and a small fenced in backyard, and we've already picked out the colors we want to paint the rooms. All in all, I'm very excited about it.
Well I think I've rambled on enough. It's a slow day at the bank and today is our golf outing for work (windy and 60 degrees). It should be a good time, but it seems like we haven't had a weekend with a billion things going on in a while. School starts the week after next, and then the week after that LifeTeen starts, so it's going to be another busy year. I guess that's all I have for now.
Peace
