So, Eric got married a little over a week ago now. And I've been in Boise for nearly two weeks now. It has been cool to see old friends and family...and old family...my
g-ma and g-pa Green have been here a few days, just hangin' out. They are so funny. G-ma Green is always reminiscing about how we grandkids were as children. And she uses funny southern phrases like "cute as a button" and the like.
I guess I have a few stories I can share since ending the semester. Um, where to start? So, for leaving school, I told Eric I would be ready to go at like 5 Wednesday morning. Well, I went over to get Becca to tell her goodbye for the semester at like 10 Tuesday night. We drove around and talked and parked and talked and we did some more talking, and then we talked. And after we were done talking, we talked again and talked for longer, and then we kept talking. And then I talked for a bit, and then she talked for a little bit, and then she said some stuff, and then I responded by saying some stuff, and I talked to her, and she talked some stuff back, and then she told me a story. And I said some other stuff, and talked. So we were talking, right. And like after the 12th or 30th time we stopped talking we went to bed. Not together. I went to my apt. and lied down on the love seat (as well as one can, I scrunched up into a little ball) I was there for something like 5 min. when I heard Eric moving around upstairs, I hadn't looked at a clock, and had no idea what time it was, but could not imagine what Eric would be doing up so late, 'cause it had to be like 2 or 3. Eric came downstairs. He asked me if I was awake, and I said yep, and asked him what time it was. "4:50" So, yeah, I didn't sleep a wink and was supposed to drive the Jimmy back to Meridian. It seemed like an okay plan to me until we got to Ogden and I started to doze even with Jordan (apt.12) talking to me. I then pulled off the road and I took a nap in the back of Eric's Jeep. Then the girls started driving, 'cause Eric was driving the Jimmy. That was kind of scary, but I was unconscious for a lot of it. Anyway. That was a crazy day.
Then we drove to Tri-Cities Washington that weekend, after working a day back at the Boise temple. When we got there I went shopping for a belt since my other black belt has been splitting apart, cracking and falling apart, it was high time for a new one. I tried on a 32" and thought it looked okay. But, my brother said that maybe I wanted a 34", 'cause I would have more leeway with the holes. So I got the 34"-er. I lost it almost immediately in the Stoker's suburban. Whe I put in on the next day it was too long, but not long enough to stick back into the belt loops on my pants...grrr! That is exactly why I shop alone. I don't need anyone else's opinion. They make me get stuff I don't want.
Natasha's dad is a riot. He was so funny. I didn't realize he was him until he came up to me an told me he was. We had fun together. He made fun of the lavender shirt I had to wear, and I told him that this might come between me and Tasha for a while.
THE LINE WAS TORTURE. You see, the groomsmen were at the front of the line, and obviously on the WRONG side of the bottleneck since people always take longer to talk to the parents they know or to the happy couple, the bridesmaids were at the end of the line, and every time I looked over they were having a great time together, not talking to anyone, just pointing them at the treat table. Man they had it so easy. But I made the most of it. I told all the people who didn't know me a different story. I was the marriage counselor, the divorce attorney, father of the bride, one of five guys who just showed up to play basketball (it was in a stake center). Sometimes when people asked me who I was I would reply "the victim" and refer them to my get up, or "the man who is unhappy about the lavender shirt choice" I told them about different ways I was planning on getting rid of the shirt, burning, torching, setting fire to it and the like. I think my favorite person to be was "Natasha's Ex-" the boyfriend she "dear john"-ed, or the old flame. That was fun. To kill time I also poisoned them against the bridesmaids. Since we were just strangers standing next to eachother and the line wasn't moving, we had to do something to pass the time to make it not awkward. I pointed it out to a lot of people how easy the bridesmaids had it, and they all agreed. I recommended everything on the snack table, not all items to everyone, but I wholeheartedly and sincerely endorsed each item they had, the nuts to one person, the brownies to another, and the roll thingies to another person.
One of the worst things you can be in the line is an older sibling who is not married. Everyone who discovered my true identity invariably asked me what the deal was. Yes, I was the older brother and no I wasn't married. They seemed to all be very sympathetic. Since the majority of them were relations of the stoker's, I heard an awful lot about a certain Kelly who attends at LDS business college. It starts. It was so nice to be in Provo where everyone is single and no one has a niece or a daughter who you "have to meet." Geez.
Okay, so that was "cool". After it was over, Natasha's brother and I drove around for like 45 min. looking for the jeep so we could decorate it. No dice. Natasha had been extra tricky and had planted false information for Jacob (her brother) to throw him off the trail. We went to a marriot on the other side of town. So, I promised him that I would get them when they had the reception in Boise. So, just before the Boise reception was over (which wasn't near as exciting because everyone knew me) Troy and I drove over to the Maverick on the corner (since we were short on time) and I bought a medium-sized squeeze bottle of mayonnaise. To get this you have to understand that there is really nothing that Eric hates more in this world than mayonnaise. What makes it even funnier is that Natasha also shares this passionate hate of the same gooey sandwich dressing. It was perfect. Me, and Ben, and Troy, and my little brother Mike, and our borther-in-law Samuel all pitched in to help get the door handles and draw pictures. I also had some white shoe polish to write stuff on the windows and we wrote stuff like "smoochie, smoochie" and "naughty" among other witty phrase that I can't now remember. Eric and Natasha refused to touch it. It was my dad who ended up cleaning off the mayo. Sick huh. They could have gone to a car wash if they had unhooked their trailer.
OH yeah! When we brought in the lovesac, Tasha's face lit up--she was so happy! Eric's jaw dropped. He just stood there and shook his head. When I walked up to him and asked him what he thought he said "What am I supposed to do with that?" I told him that he should sit on it. Then he said "Where am I supposed to put it?" Ben alredy scoped out their apt.--they have room. It was just funny that he was so concerned with the practical implications, Whereas Tasha was just thrilled. He seemed a litle wary of it until Ben gave him the card and he opened it and saw everyone's names. Thanks guys.
Um, life is kinda slow since I have to work all day and study all night. But those are just some of the things that have to happen.
Oh, I should tell you this one story. So, my sister, Amy and brother-in-law, Samuel just recently moved to Rexburg, 'cause he wants to go back to school. He is a 6'7" cowboy. He is the real deal, and my sister is just a little lady, about my hight. Anyway, she was out jogging one morning (alone) and some guys came up in a truck and started to follow her, they started harassing her. (I was ticked by this point in the story) She headed to the park, but they knew where she was going and beat her there and said some nasty things to her awhile she was there. Well, somehow she got back home and told Samuel about it, she had noted the license plate number and told Samuel. He put on his hat and drove to the park. When he got there he found the three boys and the truck. He asked them "So, you guys been out harassing women this morning?" They responded that they wouldn't do a thing like that. Samuel said "Well, I'd be inclined to believe ya, if my wife didn't give me your license plate number." They bolted. In all different directions. Samuel caught up to one of them and then lifted him up by his collar,(I was really happy at this point in the story) and I can only assume proceeded to unleash a tongue-lashing only a real cowboy could when an police officer saw what was going on and told Sam to put the boy down. Turns out they were sophomores in high school. Anyway, Sam told his story and the boys corroborated it. The officers told the boys to apologize to Samuel, and they did.
Crazy huh. Well, I am running out of time. I have work in the morning and need sleep. I don't want to try and pull another 5-in-the-morning-road-trip-on-no-sleep situations. Good night all.
