Mike's Wedding Visit

So, Mike's wedding festivities have come and gone, as I'm sitting here at a Microtel (I've given up on Travelodges) just outside Durham, NC. After last writing, I made the six hour drive to Richmond from Greenville, stopping for lunch at this place called Biscuitville (more on that later!). Once I got to town, I checked into my hotel, freshened up, and eventually made my way to Mike's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. After this, I drove Paul, one of Mike and my mutual friends from elementary school, and I over to a bar near my hotel for a few drinks over some interesting conversation. Mike eventually joined us, but only briefly before taking Paul with him and leaving me at the hotel.

Saturday morning, I checked out of my hotel before meeting up for lunch with, of all people, Julie Bondy, my first girlfriend ever (I was a junior in hish school and she was a freshman), and two of her friends who were in town. It just so happens that Julie lives in Richmond (she went to school there as well), so Evan suggested we meet up since I had some time to kill, and it proved to be really fun catching up. After this, I headed over to the wedding itself and the reception that followed, after which I said my goodbyes and drove for a couple hours to arrive here at my hotel.

Overall, the weekend has been a mixture of lots of things (catching up with old friends, celebrating a wedding, seeing my sister briefly, etc...), but easily the most socially-awkward was being the non-religious minority in what was otherwise an entirely seriously-evangelical group of wedding guests and participants. Generally-speaking, everyone was really nice and inoffensive, but it was still hard for me to cope with being around a bunch of people whose ideals clearly don't jive with mine.

Again, it was great seeing Mike, bonding with our mutual buddy Paul, and getting to know Mike's good friends Kenny and Simeon. Plus, the wedding was well-put-together and was pretty touching in many regards, and overall, I was super happy to be a part of something so big to one of my best friends, but even all this couldn't shake how awkward it was for me to be the only atheist in the room. Regardless, I'm glad I came up, and I look forward to hanging out with Mike, his friends I mentioned earlier, and of course, his new wife, Megan.