That's when it all changed. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Woke up sort of earlyish and went down to breakfast. It was just my Mom and Dinah's folks, so it was small enough that it could've been any sort of occasion.
One of the first things we had to do that day was set up the name cards and table tents so that people knew where to sit. This meant we would see the room from the inside, set up with everything except the flowers and cake. You might think the reality of the situation, the size of the group, the craziness that was on its way the next day would set in seeing the room. But it didn't. I don't know if this is because of the familiar view of Mack Field in front of me. Or the unfamiliarity of the building that hadn't been a part of my Grinnell experience during my student days. Or whether I'm just used to being a little stressed out in Grinnell. Could be all three or something I hadn't thought about. But everything was still cool.
And then. People started showing up. Dinah's brother and family were first. But then there were aunts and friends and everyone. That's when I started feeling the stress. Not much at first. Just a little twinge. But as my sister and brother showed up (bringing his own set of problems with him, ie I hate his girlfriend), I started to feel a little weird about everything.
But just as things started to feel a little odd, I had to set out to Herrick for the rehearsal. Just the immediate family on both sides and the wedding party. And as we all lined up for our first walk down the aisle, I felt something else hit me. It wasn't "calm" unfortunately, but it was the serenity of knowing even if everyone else hated each other, and fights broke out in the pews even as we were saying the vows, at least I would be married when the weekend was over. And that was comforting.
And the rehearsal went well. The first time I saw her walking down the aisle, on her father's arm, I got a lump in my throat. And I got a little misty. But, we had to rehearse that three or four times, so by the end everything seemed routine. And we smiled and laughed through the whole thing. It was nice.
And the rehearsal dinner was fun too. I ended up at a table with my family, one of Dinah's aunts and an uncle (though not the one married to this aunt) and a couple of my friends. My family seemed a little dazed by Dinah's fam, but overall it was a good dinner. And the place we stayed (Carriage House if you're ever in Grinnell) put out quite a spread for the dinner. (The breakfasts were awesome as well.) The chocolate cake for desert was particularly scrumptious.
After that, we had a pub night planned. Though the pub I knew as a student was undergoing renovations (which was for the best), we went into town and stopped at a place called Lonskis. And that's when it all changed again. Maybe it was the beer. More likely it was being surrounded by friends in an atmosphere of pure love and joy. But this was a great night. I talked to one of Dinah's friend's father for I don't know how long and it was awesome. And I hung out with my friends. And at some point that evening we headed over to Grinnell House where everyone was serenaded with Irish drinking songs, and general tom-foolery ruled the night. I snuck out at around 2, mostly sober and completely happy.
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