It’s been a whirlwind the last 2 weeks. I was on a stress high, then a wedding high and then… I crashed. And hard. You all know how it goes.
You have all the preparations and last-minute purchases before you leave for an out-of-town wedding. And you’re trying to cram 5 days of work into three. You are checking and re-checking that you have everything you want and need.

The night before you leave, you are up late getting it all together. Finishing up the final details at work and making sure you don’t leave your toothbrush behind — as if there isn’t a CVS or Kroger on every corner.

If you are unclear, this is the stress high. You know you should be tired but the drive to get it all done and get where you are going is stronger.

Then, the wedding high kicks in. This is the feeling that’s so good that if we could bottle it, inject it, sniff it, or bathe in it — we would. No questions asked. That’s how last weekend felt. I arrived in Nashville with my younger sister and youngest niece on Thursday and immediately was swept up into tasks and errands and spray tans and cake kebabs and girls, puppies, giggles, happiness and love. It sounds ridiculous when I read that last sentence and yet how else do you say it? We went to Target and Publix with a gaggle of women and girls and it was all chatter and laughter and almost disbelief that we were all together and it only took 6 hours in the car and a 5 am wake-up call. OK that’s kind of a lot but still, sometimes where you can be and who you can be with – in a mere 6 hours – is rather miraculous.

And from then on sleep was optional, coffee was essential, adrenaline was a given, and all healthy standards quickly fell into oblivion. This is how it goes when you’re on a high of any kind, I would imagine.

Before we knew it our sweet, adorable, little Sydney Brown was walking down the aisle and I was looking Lowi in the eye, in her smoking sapphire dress, trying not to cry, because she was trying not to cry while also thinking: How did we get here so fast? Wasn’t Sydney just 2 or 3 yesterday?

And if I was thinking that I feel confident Lowi and Andy (her husband) were definitely pondering that.

Soon the wedding began in earnest and it was as if someone had been eavesdropping on every important detail of Sydney’s whole life to date so it could be reflected back in heartfelt vows and clergy who seemed more proud parent than anything else.

Every nuance and detail of Sydney and Jake seemed swept up in toasts, knowing glances, bittersweet tears, hugs and uncontainable joy. As Sydney was aptly described, our humming queen was married and we could only feel love. We could only be overwhelmed with contentment. We could only feel that this is always how it was to be.

And then we danced, and danced, and danced until we were handed the most epic sparklers ever. And I was so pleased that I was given three without even asking. It’s like the little blonde sparkler keeper just sensed I was a three-sparkler kind of woman. And I am!

And we lit sparkling sticks of fire to send off sparkling humans into their new life. It was amazing and beautiful and everything you could ever hope for someone you love.

Then little by slowly the crash comes. It comes with your 4:15 am wake-up that was intended for your husband so he can return home for work. But becomes your wake-up call because he can’t find, well, anything.

And soon you realize that sleep will not return on this day so you get up. And you enjoy a fun brunch with the bride and groom all the while you can feel the high starting to fade…not because you’re any less happy but because humans need sleep and hydration and exercise and the like.

The following day the drive home begins and even though the trip is a relatively easy 6 hours (and I didn’t even drive) it now feels long. And you return to a quiet house save for your cat.

Then you return to work and all the things you ignored while high on love come crashing in and you’re sure the sky is falling… It’s not.. But it sure feels like it.

But every time you see someone post a new photo of the wedding weekend or comment about the fun you remember: sometimes the crash is worth it.

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G