I do? I did.

Yet another week has gone by and I’ve yet to spend the time writing a blog. Its not that I haven’t had the time – believe me, I have spent many more hours sleeping this week than I have in a long time – I just have yet to make this thing a priority.
On Sunday September 5th I officiated at Mike Pavlis and Elizabeth Fernandez’ wedding. The celebration took place on Lookout Mountain, just south of Chattanooga but actually in Georgia. The Grandview is a breathtaking sight for a wedding. A stone terrace provide the perfect place for the ceremony and the mountainside patio was perfect for the reception.

It was my first time planning a wedding ceremony and I’m so glad I know the bride and groom personally. It made it much easier, but at the same time, it also meant I wanted it to be even more perfect. It was a time consuming ordeal but I enjoyed every minute of it. I had to trust my instincts when it came to the sermon. I debated with myself for weeks over whether or not to write it before I arrived in Chattanooga. I’m glad I waited. I wanted to have a feel for the tone of the wedding, and the bridal party. Yes, I knew Mike well, but Elizabeth and I had only met once. I wanted to make sure that I could keep the service light and carefree, what I knew Mike would want, and still give Elizabeth exactly the wedding she wanted and deserved.

Mike and Elizabeth seemed to like the service I’d written. I’ll post it here so please judge for yourself.

The reception was great! It helps to have bottomless glasses of wine too. ☺ I even changed out of my more formal brown slacks, to a fun skirt that matched the green jacket.

I had been giving Mike a hard time for not inviting more single young men to the wedding… sure, there was only one… but he was fun. I’m happy to consider Niels, Aimee, Pat, Ripal, and Sunil some of my newest friends. We had a great time swapping stories about Mike during the wedding, but it was after the wedding that the real fun began.

After a quick wardrobe change (the third of 5 for the day as Sunil pointed out) I met the rest of the gang at the Chattanooga Billiards Club. It’s a really neat place to go if you ever make it to Chattanooga. Its downtown at 8th and Cherry. Don’t be deceived. The downstairs looks only like a cigar shop and bar, but there are about a dozen pool tables upstairs, along with another bar and dining tables. We took in more alcohol on top of all the free stuff we’d drunk at the wedding, and smoke our cigars while having some pretty hilarious discussions about our lives. It was great getting to know everyone. Of course the fact that the “minister” of the wedding was now drinking and smoking with them just added to the hilarity. I criticized the overuse of Corinthians in wedding sermons, so now everything we did turned into a Corinthians reference. Sunil had me in tears – “Corinthians 2:12. Jesus said we are to smoke cigars, drink whiskey and shoot pool” “Corinthians 6:13 And Jesus said, ‘Let’s get liquored up.” It’s one of my favorite memories from the weekend.

While at the CBC we discovered that each of us, except for Ripal ☹ , was headed to Atlanta the next day. Niels headed back to Savannah before I made it to town, but I did get to see Pat and Aimee at the Five Seasons Brewery on Tuesday night, and then Sunil at the Havana Club on Saturday. Aimee and Pat live in Houston and since I have plans to head that way I do hope to see them again. Sunil is a party animal hopefully he and I can visit his girlfriend Ripal in Florida at the same time. Aimee and Pat, and Ripal and Sunil are such fun couples. They each seemed to be very genuinely happy in their relationship, and very comfortable with their significant others. I wish my new friends nothing but absolute happiness in their futures.

After closing down the bar..and two more wardrobe changes thanks to my convertible dress..It was time to go back to the hotel. I’d already noticed that there weren’t many people out and about but after the bar closed the streets were desolate. Niels and I did some dancing in the middle of the street just because we could.

So around 4am I called the front desk and asked for late check-out. “What time?” he asked. “I don’t know, what’s the regular check out time?” “Noon.” “Oh, ok, how about 2pm?”

Two came sooner than I wanted it to. I got up around 11 but almost immediately needed a nap after packing just a few things. At 1 I called the front desk again.. “Is it possible to have a 3pm check-out?” “Sure.” Wow, I love this place.

Uh, three also came sooner than I wanted it to. Hehehe, so it was about 3:30 before I called for a baggage cart and my car to be pulled around. The bellhop misunderstood me and before I knew it I had a woman at my door trying to give me someone else’s luggage.

I FILLED the luggage cart and made my way downstairs. The process of packing and repacking my car began. I made small talk with the bellhop, a University of TN: Chattanooga sophomore. He is studying economics. Something he doesn’t really want to do. I advised him to find what he loves and do it, and I wished him the best of luck…Unfortunately, I think he’s at that stage in life where money is greater than happiness. I can’t blame him when he makes his living by parking rich peoples cars. The temptation is always there.

I left Chattanooga on Labor Day, something I wasn’t considering when trying to find postcards. I’m not very happy with myself. I left the city without any souvenir or postcards to send.

I’d decided to make the trip to Atlanta after I found out an old friend of mine was now living in the city. This past summer I was working for the Boy Scouts at their Jamboree, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the BSA. There I met a lot of beautifully fascinating people I am so blessed to now call friends. One of those unique individuals is David Moffit. He too lives in Atlanta and had already invited me down. Honestly, having just seen Moffit a month ago, and knowing I would see him again soon in Baltimore, I wasn’t planning on going to Atlanta just to see him. It wasn’t until an old dear friend from WVU, Joao Neto, told me he was here that I decided it would be worth the trip. I hadn’t seen him in years, since he went to Hawaii for grad school and I never visited him there like I should have.

Monday night Moffit had to pick up a friend from the airport, so, since I would be arriving in Atlanta around 7pm, I made plans with Neto for dinner. He took me to The Vortex. A place famous in Atlanta, and known far beyond for its profiling on the show “Man v. Food.” I ate half of my Blue Shroom Burger and sweet potatoe tots. It was monumental. The menu claims I would see God after eating it…I’m not sure if I did or not but it was definitely nirvana in my mouth.

After dinner I went to Moffit’s. He wasn’t back yet and the roommate didn’t hear the doorbell. I sat on the steps for a bit, pet a cat that wandered by, and facebooked on my crackberry. Before long the roommate appeared at the door and got me settled in. Moffit arrived soon after. We watched a few episodes of an animated show that’s made right here in Atlanta. I can’t remember the name of it, but it aired on Adult Swim which is produced by TBS, also based here in Atlanta. Now, I’m not big on adult animated shows but this one was pretty good…gory…heads being blown up, that sort of thing.

We were both exhausted by midnight..which is really lame considering the business we’re in.

I went to bed on an air mattress in the living room… as hard as it was to turn down Moffit’s offer to join him in his bed, right next to his enormous pirate ship collection. Wow. I love my friends.