Carrie's description of her recent road trip with her good friend Candra:
Gas for 11 hour car ride (one-way): $80
Little black dress: $40
Seeing life-long friends after 11 years: priceless
After receiving a wedding invitation from a longtime friend, I decided to travel the 650 miles to Ohio and re-kindle an old friendship. It was well worth the drive.
Danny & Julie (the parents) were just the same, fun loving and carefree and treated me just like one of their own. Courtney and Cassidy (the younger sisters) were so beautiful and smart, I can tell they will go very very far in life with all their talent. And Chelsea (the bride) was just absolutely gorgeous on her big day. I can still see the kid in her that I remember and had a blast talking with the whole family about all the memories.
Throughout my four day stay I was constantly reminded of my southern accent and was poked fun at how I said certain words or how many times I said 'Yall'. But the entire family, even the family she married into, was all so very nice and cordial to me.
The wedding was a Russian Orthodox Catholic wedding, very different from our weddings down here in the south. It was very rich in tradition and lasted about an hour. The reception was a celebration to be had! I didn't leave until about 12:30 AM and they were still going strong. The next day there was an all day picnic at the new in-laws house. You could tell they were all about entertaining. There was a large tent set up with a band, an open bar, and several tables and chairs. The entire family played stringed instruments very well and sang songs loudly and joyfully. There was a pond for fishing and the kids to swim. We had traditional food prepared which consisted of lamb, pasta, chicken, potato salad (the northern version, with no egg), lots of different kinds of cheese, fruit and dessert. It started around 12:00 and when I left at 9:30 they had just started the massive bon-fire and had no plans of ending the celebration anytime soon.
I'm so glad I made the trip and hopefully will see them all sooner than another 11 years.
Congratulations Chelsea and Nathan!
