November 15, 2000

One year ago: Lots of pictures, mostly of Terry.

A little sneak preview -- that's Brenda and Matt at their rehearsal. Okay, so when we left off yesterday, I got home at about 2:30 AM from the bachelorette party. I didn't have THAT much to drink. Enough, anyway. My dad had taken out this life insurance policy on me when I was born, and now that I'm an adult, he thought it was time for me to either take over the payments, or cancel it, or convert it. And since I was going to be home, I made an appointment to meet with the agent. At 10 AM the day after the party. Not my smartest move. Luckily the guy came right to my parents' house, so I didn't have to get up that early. I was still feeling a little rough. He explained the whole thing to me, and I still haven't decided what to do. After he left, I decided to go back to bed.

This picture is of my friend from high school, Scott. Doesn't he look like Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots circa 1993? Come on, a little bit? He's going to be a famous actor someday, so I'm putting this picture here so I can say I knew him when. He was actually my first boyfriend, and the first boy I ever kissed, in the sixth grade. Anyway, after sleeping for a few more hours, I got up and had to go to the mall because the skirt I had planned on wearing got a big hole in it which I noticed at Mary's rehearsal dinner. I went to the mall, bought some clothes, and made it home just in time to get ready for the rehearsal.

Did I mention I was doing a reading in the wedding? That's why I had to go to the rehearsal. It was...a rehearsal. I mean, for Catholic weddings, they're pretty much all the same. One highlight -- at some weddings I've been a part of, the priest has the couple say their entire vows during the rehearsal. I think that kind of takes away from the moment in the ceremony. Brenda and I were talking about it, and she agreed. So when the priest was all ready to make them say their vows, she told him she didn't want to. He was all, "You don't want to do the vows?" and Brenda said, "That's CORRECT!" and looked at me. It cracked me up.

After the rehearsal, we had a fairly informal dinner -- pizza and wings. It was nice and low key. I've been to fancy rehearsal dinners too. Both are nice. This was cool because I'm sure the bride and groom are nervous enough the night before the wedding and it was relaxing. Brenda gave me a beautiful, gigantic three-wick candle and holder as a gift, and wrote a nice card. She acts tough as nails, but she's really a softie.

Once the dinner was over, a bunch of us headed over to a bar in town. That was a lot of fun because I got to see some of the people who had come in from out of town to attend the wedding, but weren't part of the rehearsal. My brother and sister-in-law were there too, and later on my parents showed up. We had a good time. Many stories were told. My brother ended up giving me a ride home a bit after midnight. I was asleep before my crazy, partying parents got home! Tomorrow: the wedding and reception.