On a four day weekend, we hit the road and drove to Dublin.
Nope, not Ireland. Dublin, Ohio.
It was a whirlwind weekend, a long drive and another reunion with people I hadn't seen in years, but for happier reasons than the weekend before.
Before all of my family stuff had happened, we thought about staying in Ohio for an extra day after the wedding, but decided against it after knowing my weekend before would be attending a funeral. So this wedding was a turn and burn. One day of driving, wedding day, next day drive home. IT WAS NUTS. I won't do that again. We should've stayed the extra day, just to breathe for a minute.
The night before the wedding, I thought for sure my husband would disappear with the guys, but the groom was chillin' in the room next to ours, hanging out with others from our army family who had shown up before us. No bachelor party plans, I guess. We all chilled in the suite, talking, drinking, no party. Eventually someone did a fourth meal run to Taco Bell, and the night was over by 1am.
The wedding was an evening wedding, so the next morning we had some time to kill in the area. I had researched Dublin a little bit beforehand, wanting to see something other than the mall across from our hotel. We hopped into the car in search of a couple waterfalls I had found online.
The first falls area had a dick photographer hogging up two parking spaces and the other four spaces were taken. It was a small lot off the side of the road, so we called it what it was and ventured to a place called Indian Run Falls.
The area is wooded and beautiful. We had similar spots in Tennessee that this place reminded me off. A few other families were in the area and a couple taking engagement photos. We wandered down to the creek at the base of the falls and enjoyed our nice fall morning. Everyone that I know from Ohio said the brilliant colors would catch my breath...not really.
Maybe I'd have to visit a different area of Ohio? I didn't see any fall colors I hadn't seen before elsewhere.
Because my husband was a groomsman in the wedding, we didn't have time to do much else. We grabbed a quick lunch with the kids at Chipotle, and went back to the hotel to start getting ready.
The one issue that sucked during the ENTIRETY of our stay: The toilet in our room was clogged. It was clogged when we initially checked in the night before. We had told the hotel desk about it after checking in, and again before we left to find the waterfalls on wedding morning. I thought it would've been fixed once we returned, but nope. And because the hotel was full (more than one wedding going on) they couldn't offer us another room. Thankfully our room was conjoined with friends of ours, and they knew about our shitter issue. But let me tell ya, getting ready with six people sharing a room and a bunch in the next and all sharing one toilet really sucked balls. Once my husband was dressed in his tux, I tied his tie and he was off with the wedding party to take pictures and stuff. The plan was we'd see him later at the venue. But first, lemmetakeapicture. I haven't seen my husband in a tux since senior prom.
The kids and I continued getting ourselves ready, and at 4pm we headed downstairs to catch one of the buses that would escort hotel guests to the venue. The venue was a 40 minute ride away in the middle of the country. For some strange reason, we were the first people outside and then an older couple showed up. The man was a great uncle of the bride's and the woman was his recent bride who had moved to Ohio from of all places, Long Beach, CA! Her and I hit it off, talking about our homeland on the ride. I also ended up in a shuttle with only the bride's family. Except for my children, I knew nobody on that shuttle. One of the bride's uncles in the shuttle looked just like Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort in human form) and when I told him so, he laughed and asked who that was...
When we got to the venue, I was almost jealous that I wasn't a photographer for this wedding.
IT. WAS. GORGEOUS.
Seriously, the most gorgeous wedding venue I have ever seen to date. I have shot a multitude of weddings and have been a guest and bridesmaid at many more. I thought I had seen it all. I had finally found the fall colors Ohio people spoke of. I wish I had taken more pictures of the event grounds.
My husband found us at the entrance and was done with his photos. The poor thing has high blood pressure and looked like a sweat box in his tux, but to be fair, it was actually quite a warm October day. We chit-chatted with some of the other army family guests, took our own pictures, then it was time for the wedding to start!
The thing about the groom:
Yes, the groom served with my husband in Fort Lewis and deployed with him to Afghanistan in 2009 with the 1-17, 2nd Infantry Division. He was his friend first.
The groom for sometime was my husband's sergeant, though a few years younger (my husband didn't join the army out of high school like many others we knew). But due to a medical thing, the groom was sent back stateside from Afghanistan and sat on rear-d for the rest of the deployment. He wasn't married, had no family near by, and all of his brothers were still at war.
He'd come over to check on the kids and I from time to time, and eventually he'd just hang out and stick around, though he never stayed the night. I think he was bored, and I know he felt some guilt over not being there with the rest of them at war. For months, he'd show up, helping me around the house, watching the kids when I needed him to, he'd come over for dinner, rent movies, and would even walk my dog. Because of him being sent home early, I formed a friendship with a dude that I otherwise wouldn't have.
The funny part was that I moved between houses in the middle of the deployment and he was there to help. At the new house, my nosy neighbors thought he was my husband (since my husband was gone, they didn't know any better). I didn't want to explain who he was, so I never corrected them when they'd make small talk. We ALL know how on-post neighbors are, so I let them assume whatever because if I told the truth, they wouldn't believe me anyway.
When my husband and the others returned from Afghanistan, the groom still hung out at our place often. I remember bbq-ing outside once and my husband groped me as our friend sat there chillin at the grill. My neighbor across the street gasped in horror, thinking my husband wasn't my husband but another random soldier. Even hollered the word "slut" at me a few times after that. Man! The good ol' days! To be honest, I had fun making those assholes wonder.
Skip ahead a few years. I was so happy to meet the bride before we even knew she would be marrying our friend. The groom had brought her to Tennessee for a 4th of July party we hosted in 2014 before we moved to Germany. I knew I liked her when she dialed 911 because my son snapped his arm off at the party while riding his bike. She was the only sane person of us all that day! I'm surprised we were invited to the wedding after that shindig...
Watching them getting married was beautiful. I smiled for my friend, knowing that one day he'd find her and I am so glad he did. And how lucky she is; he was one of the few good, single guys left in the world. As the newly married couple walked down the aisle together to kick off the reception, I high-fived my friend. It was like I had just witnessed my brother getting married. I never get weird at weddings, but that moment put a knot in my throat that he'll never know about...
The reception was great. The food good. The antics, perfect.
By 11pm, we called it a night and caught a bus back to the hotel. I was some kind of drunk, for sure. I remember rapping and talking about TuPac on the ride and arguing with an east coast person about TuPac being a better artist than Biggie. While rapping, I got carried away and included the explicit version of a song. Oops. Y'all, I was into the music.
I went to bed once we got to our room, and woke up the next morning feeling like garbage, ready to hit the road again. We ate breakfast with the groom (the bride had partied too hard the night before) and said our goodbyes. Oh, and our toilet still didn't work upon check out!
Though the trip was short, the weekend was long! But all of that driving was worth being there, seeing my friend get married, and catching up on army life with others we hadn't seen in so many years. Definitely a good time in Dublin!
Update July 2018:
The married couple are expecting their first baby soon! I can't be more excited for them! I've got some shopping to do. Yay!
Nope, not Ireland. Dublin, Ohio.
It was a whirlwind weekend, a long drive and another reunion with people I hadn't seen in years, but for happier reasons than the weekend before.
The drive was LONG.
I knew it would be, but after driving to St Louis and back not that ling ago, I thought at least the first six hours would go by fast. They didn't.
Even though we left at the crack of dawn, we didn't roll into Dublin, Ohio until 9pm. The 12 hour drive with stops took about 15 hours. Yikes!
Before all of my family stuff had happened, we thought about staying in Ohio for an extra day after the wedding, but decided against it after knowing my weekend before would be attending a funeral. So this wedding was a turn and burn. One day of driving, wedding day, next day drive home. IT WAS NUTS. I won't do that again. We should've stayed the extra day, just to breathe for a minute.
The night before the wedding, I thought for sure my husband would disappear with the guys, but the groom was chillin' in the room next to ours, hanging out with others from our army family who had shown up before us. No bachelor party plans, I guess. We all chilled in the suite, talking, drinking, no party. Eventually someone did a fourth meal run to Taco Bell, and the night was over by 1am.
The wedding was an evening wedding, so the next morning we had some time to kill in the area. I had researched Dublin a little bit beforehand, wanting to see something other than the mall across from our hotel. We hopped into the car in search of a couple waterfalls I had found online.
The first falls area had a dick photographer hogging up two parking spaces and the other four spaces were taken. It was a small lot off the side of the road, so we called it what it was and ventured to a place called Indian Run Falls.
The area is wooded and beautiful. We had similar spots in Tennessee that this place reminded me off. A few other families were in the area and a couple taking engagement photos. We wandered down to the creek at the base of the falls and enjoyed our nice fall morning. Everyone that I know from Ohio said the brilliant colors would catch my breath...not really.
Maybe I'd have to visit a different area of Ohio? I didn't see any fall colors I hadn't seen before elsewhere.
Because my husband was a groomsman in the wedding, we didn't have time to do much else. We grabbed a quick lunch with the kids at Chipotle, and went back to the hotel to start getting ready.
The one issue that sucked during the ENTIRETY of our stay: The toilet in our room was clogged. It was clogged when we initially checked in the night before. We had told the hotel desk about it after checking in, and again before we left to find the waterfalls on wedding morning. I thought it would've been fixed once we returned, but nope. And because the hotel was full (more than one wedding going on) they couldn't offer us another room. Thankfully our room was conjoined with friends of ours, and they knew about our shitter issue. But let me tell ya, getting ready with six people sharing a room and a bunch in the next and all sharing one toilet really sucked balls. Once my husband was dressed in his tux, I tied his tie and he was off with the wedding party to take pictures and stuff. The plan was we'd see him later at the venue. But first, lemmetakeapicture. I haven't seen my husband in a tux since senior prom.
The kids and I continued getting ourselves ready, and at 4pm we headed downstairs to catch one of the buses that would escort hotel guests to the venue. The venue was a 40 minute ride away in the middle of the country. For some strange reason, we were the first people outside and then an older couple showed up. The man was a great uncle of the bride's and the woman was his recent bride who had moved to Ohio from of all places, Long Beach, CA! Her and I hit it off, talking about our homeland on the ride. I also ended up in a shuttle with only the bride's family. Except for my children, I knew nobody on that shuttle. One of the bride's uncles in the shuttle looked just like Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort in human form) and when I told him so, he laughed and asked who that was...
When we got to the venue, I was almost jealous that I wasn't a photographer for this wedding.
IT. WAS. GORGEOUS.
Seriously, the most gorgeous wedding venue I have ever seen to date. I have shot a multitude of weddings and have been a guest and bridesmaid at many more. I thought I had seen it all. I had finally found the fall colors Ohio people spoke of. I wish I had taken more pictures of the event grounds.
My husband found us at the entrance and was done with his photos. The poor thing has high blood pressure and looked like a sweat box in his tux, but to be fair, it was actually quite a warm October day. We chit-chatted with some of the other army family guests, took our own pictures, then it was time for the wedding to start!
 |
| Uhhh, yeah, Shoes. |
The thing about the groom:
Yes, the groom served with my husband in Fort Lewis and deployed with him to Afghanistan in 2009 with the 1-17, 2nd Infantry Division. He was his friend first.
The groom for sometime was my husband's sergeant, though a few years younger (my husband didn't join the army out of high school like many others we knew). But due to a medical thing, the groom was sent back stateside from Afghanistan and sat on rear-d for the rest of the deployment. He wasn't married, had no family near by, and all of his brothers were still at war.
He'd come over to check on the kids and I from time to time, and eventually he'd just hang out and stick around, though he never stayed the night. I think he was bored, and I know he felt some guilt over not being there with the rest of them at war. For months, he'd show up, helping me around the house, watching the kids when I needed him to, he'd come over for dinner, rent movies, and would even walk my dog. Because of him being sent home early, I formed a friendship with a dude that I otherwise wouldn't have.
The funny part was that I moved between houses in the middle of the deployment and he was there to help. At the new house, my nosy neighbors thought he was my husband (since my husband was gone, they didn't know any better). I didn't want to explain who he was, so I never corrected them when they'd make small talk. We ALL know how on-post neighbors are, so I let them assume whatever because if I told the truth, they wouldn't believe me anyway.
When my husband and the others returned from Afghanistan, the groom still hung out at our place often. I remember bbq-ing outside once and my husband groped me as our friend sat there chillin at the grill. My neighbor across the street gasped in horror, thinking my husband wasn't my husband but another random soldier. Even hollered the word "slut" at me a few times after that. Man! The good ol' days! To be honest, I had fun making those assholes wonder.
Skip ahead a few years. I was so happy to meet the bride before we even knew she would be marrying our friend. The groom had brought her to Tennessee for a 4th of July party we hosted in 2014 before we moved to Germany. I knew I liked her when she dialed 911 because my son snapped his arm off at the party while riding his bike. She was the only sane person of us all that day! I'm surprised we were invited to the wedding after that shindig...
Watching them getting married was beautiful. I smiled for my friend, knowing that one day he'd find her and I am so glad he did. And how lucky she is; he was one of the few good, single guys left in the world. As the newly married couple walked down the aisle together to kick off the reception, I high-fived my friend. It was like I had just witnessed my brother getting married. I never get weird at weddings, but that moment put a knot in my throat that he'll never know about...
The reception was great. The food good. The antics, perfect.
By 11pm, we called it a night and caught a bus back to the hotel. I was some kind of drunk, for sure. I remember rapping and talking about TuPac on the ride and arguing with an east coast person about TuPac being a better artist than Biggie. While rapping, I got carried away and included the explicit version of a song. Oops. Y'all, I was into the music.
I went to bed once we got to our room, and woke up the next morning feeling like garbage, ready to hit the road again. We ate breakfast with the groom (the bride had partied too hard the night before) and said our goodbyes. Oh, and our toilet still didn't work upon check out!
Though the trip was short, the weekend was long! But all of that driving was worth being there, seeing my friend get married, and catching up on army life with others we hadn't seen in so many years. Definitely a good time in Dublin!
Update July 2018:
The married couple are expecting their first baby soon! I can't be more excited for them! I've got some shopping to do. Yay!
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