Laughter is the Best Medicine

What a weekend.

On Friday morning I flew off to beautiful HOT Kelowna for a close friend's wedding. In addition to attending the wedding, it was a mini get together of high school friends and their spouses - a lot of the girls I had the getaway weekend with earlier in the summer. I was looking forward to going, but sorely wishing my family could attend with me.


I knew I would have fun. I was going to the wedding of a close friend, with a group of other close friends, and giving surely one of the best group gifts* in the history of weddings. What I didn't realize, is just how much fun I would have. I know that when I get together with these girls we laugh. Hard. But this weekend took the cake. The jokes per minute were at an all time high. Because not only are these girls funny, their husbands are hysterical. If only some of the laughs were appropriate to share on this blog, I would. But they most definitely weren't - which made them all the funnier.

I got to see my oldest boy friend (never that kind of boy friend!) finally settle down with the girl of his dreams. He has been to all of us girls' weddings, and now it was our time to be there for him. The wedding itself was stunning, and the happiness of the couple surpassed that. It could not have been a better back drop for all the laughing, old memories re-hashed, and new memories made by a group of dear friends. But for every laugh and happy moment that was shared, I got a bit sadder that Jordan could not be there to enjoy it with me. It is strange to be surrounded by such an obvious outpouring of love and not have your partner there to share it with. That said, missing Jordan was not stopping me! I'm sure that in any photo that caught me, I am doubled over in laughter, near hyper-ventilating.

This weekend was good for my soul. There was very little "heavy" talk. Yup, Asher came up. Yup, I cried. But my tears to laughter ratio was balanced in the right direction for the first time in a long time. Being with these people made me miss them terribly. But it also made me thankful for the times that I do see them, no matter how few and far between they are.

Unfortunately, Sunday came to not the greatest end when my flight was delayed. I made it home safe and sound but then stayed up way too late giving Jordan the low down on the weekend. Then Asher's every-third-night wakeup at 3:45 am was particularly painful. Trust me, when you're working on a 2 day hangover (don't judge me! my kids weren't there!), you don't want your day to start hourrrrrrrs before the sun comes up. Many, many cups of coffee, and I'm hanging in.

On the homefront things are otherwise ok. Rio is having a bit of a struggle with kindergarten. She loves it once she gets there, but there are a lot of tears in the morning at drop off. This morning it all started about 10 minutes before we left home, and she continued to sob the entire walk and until I had to pry her from me in the classroom (as did Jordan on Friday). It was heartbreaking, and I too left crying. I know that she has so much fun when she's there, so I am hoping it's just a few more days before she overcomes the fear and is excited to go.

The boys are doing well, learning the odd new word and gesture. Tomorrow Asher has NICU follow up (and Nolan does next Friday) so I'm imagining that it will be a pretty crappy day. Something about hearing where your child should be vs where they actually are is awfully disheartening, especially when - on most days - you are generally ok with things unfolding as they will, and not over-thinking all the "shoulds". Sigh. Here's hoping the high from my stellar weekend helps things to roll off of me tomorrow!

*For a die-hard Oilers fan - 2 tickets Canucks vs. Oilers and a night in a fancy schmancy hotel in the Vancouver harbour. Booya!