Catching Up - Home Sweet Home Pt. Deux

Saturday morning I start the 4-hour plus trip across Western PA and the wasteland that is Northern Ohio. Along the way I pick up my friend Nicole, who I know from college, but haven't seen in probably eight years. We've kept in touch, but she's been in Orlando and Boston while I've been everywhere from California to the Gulf of Mexico. The car ride is spent catching up on the last eight years and guessing what the wedding will have in store. Many times we catch ourselves saying we can't believe we're going to Dave's wedding. Dave was a great roommate at OU and an awesome person, but he can be picky and stubborn as hell. He found the perfect woman for him, she makes him happy and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to be there for him.

Once you get west of Akron there isn't really anything until to say, Chicago. The closest thing to civilization is the urban hotspot Mansfield and then beautiful Findlay, the hometown of Steeler quaterback Ben Rothleisberger.

Since we got kind of a late jump on the day, we don't have a chance to stop at our hotel and change clothes. That's not a big deal for me since I'm got my suit on, minute tie and jacket. For Nicole, however, it's another story. Since we couldn't find anything on the two-lane highway that split through miles of farmland, Nicole has to get changed in the back of the van. Yes I had to take my folks van since the driver side window of the jeep was stuck about halfway up. Being the gentleman that I am, I turn the mirrors to the side and stare out the front window with my hands at 10 and 2.

The wedding was nice, as far as weddings go, I'm not a big wedding person. It was pretty quick, which was a pleasant surprise considering I expected a full blown catholic mass. We had a good two hours to kill between the wedding and the reception so Nicole and I headed back to Findlay, which was about 20 minutes away. Along the way we stopped to take picture besides this 25-foot plastic bull that stood next to the road. Only in NE Ohio.

After checking in we went next door to the Outback as it was the only place near hotel with a bar. A girl that worked at the school newspaper, the Post, with us joined us at the bar and we did some more catching up. Eventually we made out way to the reception, which wasn't more than a 1/2 mile away from the hotel, probably 1/4 as the crow flies, where we met up with our friend Kim, another Postie. The reception was pretty much you would expect a wedding reception to be: Good food, open bar, some dancing and generally a good time.

When it was about time for the garter toss and I made sure to get the hell out of there. It's stupid shit like that makes me hate weddings -- my friend Jim did it right when he got married, they came in, did their first dance and the dance with the parents. Then everyone sat down, ate quickly and it was onto the dance floor -- so when I hear them talk about crap like that I make a b-line for the door.

There wasn't much to report from the reception until the end of the evening when I see dave go into the women's room to retrieve his wife. Apparently the mixture euphoria of the day, not eating much and booze did a number on her so Dave and another guy carried her to the car. I had a picture of it on my camera phone, but I decided to erase it.

After the reception wound down, Nicole, Erica, her sister and myself returned to Outback for a few more cocktails. Most of the time was spent revisiting our time at OU and talking about what watering holes and restaurants were still there and those that had been closed. Apparently I offended Erica's sister a little bit when i made a comment about the Crystal - with a C, not a K like the White Castle knock off spells it - being a sorority bar. When asked what a sorority bar was it was usually filled with girls wearing black pants and shiny shirt as well as guys in khaki's, a t-shirt or button down, plus a baseball cap. As you can probably guess she was in a sorority, but I really didn't care. Nicole said that I probably could have hooked up with her had it not been for the sorority comment, but that wasn't my attention for several reasons. 1) I was sharing a room with Nicole so there would have been that awkwardness. 2) I had just started seeing someone so i really didn't want to mess that up.

Sunday we headed back east to civilization. After I dropped Nicole off at her parents I made it back to Brookville in time to get a final round of golf in with Bill, Josh and Neil. We've been playing together for almost 15 years now and the rounds are fewer and farther between since I first moved out to California, but I can see myself meeting up with these guys somewhere on the links 20 years from now.

The remainder of the trip was pretty uneventful, which is what I needed after five non-stop days. My dad and I played 18 hole at a different course near by. My short game was solid, I nearly holed-out several times - which figures as close as I got to doing it, my dad holed out on 18 for par - but I was horrible off the tee. I think I need a lesson or two to get things corrected. Early Tuesday morning we headed to the airport and then it was back to Tallahassee. It was a good trip and I'm glad I got to see as many people as I did because I won't see most of them until christmas.