I survived without wifi…

The altar was so pretty, we had a friend take a picture 🙂

In fact, I feel much refreshed.

We went to a friend’s wedding this weekend and the following happened:

*  I sat in the corner and simultaneously read and crocheted an afghan while my husband and his friends golfed.  Sound lonely? Not on your life.  There was no wifi, and the blanket was for the people getting married, and for the first time in… in… in… FOREVER I had a book and my knitting.  I had quiet. I had peace. I had the mountains in the background.  Mate came in at the split and asked me if I was okay. I was so happy, I teared up.  “No computer,” I rasped. “Do you know… do you even KNOW how stressed I was?”

*  While I was working on the blanket, Mate’s friends also came in at the split. They ALL said hi or hugged me, and chatted a minute. You forget how much you love people until you see them after a while. You forget how grateful you can be for human company until you realize they love you back.

This was right after the golf game and before the wedding. Let’s hear it for the sun coming out.

*  I finished the blanket.  The couple didn’t want gifts.  In fact, all they really wanted was to throw a hell of a weekend party for all their friends.  There was golf on Friday morning, beer and appetizers at a bar on Friday night, a gorgeous wedding on Saturday, complete with apps, drinks, dinner, and dancing, and, this morning, brunch at an amazing place on the way out of town.  When I handed them the blanket during brunch, everybody who saw it had the lightbulb– they were like, “Oh! You made this blanket this weekend!”  And I think it meant more to them– they saw me working on it–it was part of the glorious weekend they’d planned for their friends.  It had happy party vibes.  They were also sort of impressed: “I saw you reading while you made this!”  Kip (the groom) did a mime of me multi-tasking– and Mate said he was dead on. Cracked us both the hell up.

Mate is just drunk enough to dance in this picture.

*  The dancing went on long enough for Mate to get toasted and to dance. I made an amazing discovery, too– took 28 years to do it.  Mate and I have always been awkward dancers, until Saturday night. Why?  Because I took my shoes off, and he didn’t. Damn. Just made such a difference. It’s like, “Fun fact! It’s harder to dance when you’re exactly the same height and twice the width of your partner.”  Something had to give. My shoes were the big ticket item, and we danced.

Don’t find THIS feature at the Marquis on Times Square.

*  Our hotel was less than sophisticated–but it wasn’t awful.  Clearly a family run operation, it was clean, well kept, and had an enormous television screen.  It also had writing in sharpie on top of the microwave, advising us to slam the microwave door hard to get it to start, a picture that was hanging by one screw when we walked in, and an envelope asking for tips on the bed stand–hand written.  Mate and I were gently amused by this room–Mate sort of adored it. “Nobody can put this place down–it’s not crappy, and I love it.”

And I love him.

*  We were given tiny triangular boxes with butterflies in them before the ceremony started. We rightly surmised that we were supposed to release the butterflies as part of the ceremony, but, well, there were a lot of birds.  Let’s just say that when Game of Thrones was playing, there was a lot of hypothesizing about how releasing the butterflies was going to turn into The Red Wedding, Wild Kingdom style, with the butterflies starring as the Lanisters.  As it turned out, the moment when the butterflies went was actually really lovely– the birds left them alone, and the rest of the day was filled with butterflies.  Some flew around the ceremony, one lit upon the bridal bouquet, one perched above the happy couple as they stood at the altar, and mine hung out on my finger for a few moments.  Even later, during dinner, as the sun set, the occasional butterfly still wandered by– we felt proprietary. We helped make that moment of beauty happen, and since the butterflies were a wish and a prayer, not just for the happy couple, but for the groom’s mother (who was a truly lovely, warm, memorable woman) to share in the wedding although she’d been called away too soon, well, that was especially poignant.  I guess maybe it was good karma and love that kept the birds away.

Either that, or butterflies ain’t good eatin’– but we’ll pretend it was good karma and love.

*  Dinner and dancing was filled with good friends, happy to see each other.  I got to thank the guy who talked a mildly drunk Mate into accompanying me to New York– that alone was worth going up to Tahoe.

Brunch with this view is never a bad idea.

*  And today, after brunch, we came home. We missed our kids. We took them to see Shaun the Sheep (which was adorable) and we took them to dinner and there was hugging and chatting and family together…

Now,  I know tomorrow is going to be back to work again. I’ve already started my list of impossible things to accomplish.  I’m already stressing about the kids going back to school on Thursday.  Soccer has started, I’m late on five deadlines, and GRL is approaching at warp speed.

Last week I’d wander around the house, crying at odd times, just because I was so tired, and so stressed, and needed a break from all of it just so badly.

This weekend Mate and I had our break.

We may have the same amount of crap on our desks now that we’re back, but I think maybe we can both do it without tears.