Michianadventure

whoa, look, i made three words into one for a Title of Coolness.

right.

so....saturday. a day of neverending fun?

it all started when i got home around 12 a.m. and headed upstairs to finally sit down and map out my route to the Southworth-Miller wedding in Sturgis, Michigan. i discovered that it actually was quite easy to get to (take 37 to 9 and BAM! you're there). i studied the google map of Sturgis in order to know what to do when i got to the detour around their parade. i felt quite confident and went to bed at 2 a.m.

i got up at 5:45 a.m. and started getting ready. i planned to leave by 6:30. surprisingly that's exactly when i left. before i left i talked to dad real fast, got some emergency extra cash, and talked to caryn briefly. then i got on the road, wearing my little black dress, my open-toed heels, and sporting some EXCELLENT hair. my hair was.....muy fabuluoso. indeed.

when i got to elwood, IN (on 37, halfway between carmel and marion) i stopped for some $1.89 gas. i'd seen it when driving past the day before but hadn't gotten any cheap gas, but today was different. i put $14.50 in and went to pay. i don't know whether anyone else realizes this or not, but 7 a.m. in a small indiana town is the hour that all the fat old men go to the gas stations to hang out with their buddies. i got out in my best clothes looking all hot and saucy, and about 5 old men stood there gaping......abandoning their conversations, trailing off....attention i'm not used to. a couple said "good morning" and i said "good morning" back without glancing at them. i don't like being oogled. it bothers me to no end. anyways, then i headed out again, got to marion, got on 9, and drove.

i found that i really didn't mind getting up at the crack of dawn and driving for 3 1/2 hours. in fact, i quite enjoyed it. it was a beautiful day with the sun shining brightly, and i had plenty of great songs. i think that's why i enjoy road trips so much -- spending time with the music. and i don't mind road trips by myself, either. i happen to enjoy myself most of the time. i'm a lot of fun.

so anyways.

called meredith and left voicemails from elwood, IN and huntington, IN. she called me back while i was in the middle of an intersection for 3 different state roads, trying to figure out which lane to stay in and failing miserably. i think i left her hanging for a couple seconds before saying hi, and managing to stay on IN-9.

everything was very green, and very sunny. i loved it. i basked.

a little south of lagrange i saw my first amish sighting. i'd forgotten that lagrange was home to a large amish population, and turning the corner of the road to happen upon a rather good-looking young man in overalls and a hat standing on a plow behind a team of five horses was very exciting and unexpected. i cheered (privately). it was thrilling.

i made my way to sturgis, michigan unscathed and with no real problems. i tossed aside the directions i'd written down from google maps and began following the detour directions josiah had dropped off a couple weeks ago. one of the main roads in sturgis, chicago road/12, was closed for their "michigan days" celebration and parade. josiah's directions were supposed to help me avoid using it as the main route to the church, instead only requiring me to cross it at one point.

i got to that point, and was unable to cross it. there were road blocks and police officers at every intersection. i turned around and pulled into a parking lot right next to it and attempted to call meredith despite the lack of signal. while trying to make a phone call, i noticed the officers began letting people ON chicago road, but not across it. i hurried up and got in line and got on it and went down the road, looking for a way across. i found the beginning of the parade waiting to happen (hundreds of people, probably half the town) and managed to squeeze my way around a few floats and army vehicles to head in the right direction. i got back on the road i'd been on, turned where i was supposed to, and began looking for the church. ten minutes later i decided i'd missed it and turned around and went back. i stopped at a busy gas station and asked the cashier where the wesleyan church was. she was helpful, and i went back. i'd missed it because it was off the road aways, and i'd been looking for a church right up next to the road. i found it and parked, waiting for meredith.

i was so excited that i'd found the wedding; i found myself unable to wait and called meredith again. she, too, was having problems finding the church and had gotten help from a nice man named angelo, and was a couple minutes away. i waited, staring impatiently at every car that drove past on the road. AND THEN SHE CAME!

we hugged, we squealed, we caught up on sporadic gossip. we went inside.

on the way in we spotted chris fett and jordan rader, and made some snide remarks intended to be overheard. we signed the guest book and went to sit down. at the door we were faced with a slight problem -- bride or groom? after some minor confusion, stuttering, and not getting permission to sit in the aisle, we were seated in the third row, bride side, next to heather's parents and a girl named Tanya whom had lived in shatford our freshman year.

the entire experience was surreal. i don't know what it felt like, but it didn't feel like being at a friend's wedding. it was just suzin and meredith on a random road trip at a random location for a random event. with heather's parents.

the music started, and heather walked down the aisle on chris's arm (disappointment, we thought she and s2h were going to walk together). then came karissa's cousin on scotty's arm, and the maid of honor (karissa's sister) and the best man (jordan freaking rader?!). josiah was standing there looking perfectly composed with the minister. the flower girls came, very carefully and purposefully dropping one large petal at a time on the floor. then the doors in the back closed, and "here comes the bride" started. the doors opened again, and as we were standing up i caught a glance at karissa before the tall people between myself and her blocked the view. she came down the aisle on her dad's arm. i hadn't seen her dress yet -- it was GREAT. and she was so tan and skinny! she looks so great with her hair up. jeesh.

and then they got married. during the ceremony i happened to glance up at the ceiling's peaks and was astonished to discover that there was a rather large disco ball hanging from the highest point. karissa and josiah got married under a disco ball without driving to vegas -- so priceless.

the reception was across the border in lagrange, indiana at the 4-H fairgrounds. i followed meredith who followed heather's dad. we made it there without incident. the dj was an older lady with a circa-1970s hairstyle, and she desperately needed a microphone. she announced the wedding party and when it came time to announce the bride and groom, she introduced us for the first time ever to "JOSHUA and Karissa Southworth." needless to say, we were all pretty surprised to find out that this entire time Josiah's name has really been Joshua.

they had some really really really good homemade food for lunch, and wedding cake too. it came time to chuck the bouquet and fling the garter. first they had all the single females come forward. meredith, heather, tanya, and i diligently joined the other 4 or 5, cracking jokes about how meredith and i were going to block for heather so that she could catch it. then karissa turned around and tossed it........time slowed down................i could see the flowers spinning through the air (much like a football), straight towards my face. not thinking clearly, i stretched my arm up and blocked, causing the bouquet to fall on the floor. no one else dove for it, so i bent over and picked it up. it was about that point i realized i'd "caught" the thing. INSANELY embarrassed. oh gosh. some guy i didnt know caught the garter, and we had to pose for pictures together. karissa tried to tell me that they wanted him to put the garter on me, but i ran away.

josiah and karissa danced, and then they each danced with each other's family members. then came the "dollar dance" where the girls pay a dollar to dance with josiah and the guys a dollar for karissa. heather's dad forcibly dragged meredith and i up, one at a time, with a dollar for each of us. is he a pimp on the side? i think so.

i remember hearing some country music, the macarena (holy crap, i had forgotten how cheesy-awesome that song is), and what i think is called the "cha cha slide." the quadster's ladies were gettin' down. us "too cool for school" older kids simply sat and watched, being too apathetic to participate. or too scared. whatever.

we hung out, watched them open most of the presents, and then once things had wound down pretty far meredith and i decided it was time to leave. we changed clothes, said goodbye, and headed out into the wild blue yonder.

driving back on IN-9 from sturgis, we'd spotted a few rather spectacular photographic ops. we just drove back up towards Howe, IN, pulling over whenever we felt like taking pictures (in our separate cars). we found the restaurant of the man who'd helped meredith find the church and stopped for some grilled cheese sandwiches. it was your typical greasy-spoon restaurant. when angelo, the owner, came back the waitress pointed him in our direction. he pulled up a chair and started talking about how he came from montreal, how long he'd lived in chicago and the restaurant biz he'd had there. he told us about the fights -- "every night was like jerry springer times TWO" -- and how "gay night" was always so pleasant becuase the homosexuals and lesbians were nice and didn't get into fights with each other. then he told us a story about a cop friend of his getting ambushed by five latino gang members and how the cop had to kill them all. apparantly it was in the news the other day. when we went to pay, the phone by the register started ringing and the waitress answered it and told us angelo said he could see us, and to wave at the security camera on the ceiling. it was a pretty bootleg experience.

we got back on the road and went to the Howe Military School. I'd seen some exciting-looking architecture, and we walked around and took a few pictures. we talked a bunch, and ambled past a few different groups of what appeared to be high school students playing outside on the campus. i even saw some preppy blonde girls. i wonder what that life must be like.....anyways.

eventually we came to the back of a big trailer, which was a slightly warped silver and reflected us perfectly. great for self-portraits. we'll see what happens with those.

it came time to part, and meredith and i said goodbye for an unknowable period of time...this time no tears, one or two hugs only, and a few sarcastic remarks. it was easier. but still hurt a little bit. we drove back to the light and i kept going on IN-9 and she turned right. i took a picture, but i'm not sure if it will turn out or not.

i pulled over twice on my way home (three hour drive) for some great photos...the first being a church i'd seen on my way up with its roof caved in. it looked pretty awesome. i think i may have caused the man across the street in his truck in front of his farmhouse to wonder....he waited until i left before he pulled out. when i'd turned onto the road i drove for a few hundred yards just enjoying the freedom of not having any idea of where i was headed. but i had to turn around...don't wanna get lost in the middle of nowhere.

when i got to marion i made a couple phone calls to voicemails, and then almost went straight for 37 and home but felt pangs and decided i couldn't drive through marion without saying hi to IWU. so i drove around campus a little bit and then went home.

stopped at PH to get this weeks schedule and to say hi to my posse. (yeah, right). then home, vegetate, and went to bed slightly early (for me -- 1:30 am).

it just seemed like a day of crazy-random things that never ended...a day anything could happen. that's what life has been like the past for years with meredith, only i think just one thing would happen every now and then, whereas saturday EVERYTHING happened in about 6 hours. ca-ray-zay. i wonder if a precedent has been set...everytime suzin and meredith come together tete-a-tete in the future, expect to be randomcrazinated?

i dont know if i did the day justice, but it was beautiful. one of the best ever. go southworths.