A visit to South Carolina

This past weekend Clint and I went to Tyner & Zeke’s wedding in Charleston, SC.

We passed through Greenville first. Caroline greeted us with a squeal and ran to meet us upon our arrival around 6. We made great time driving, only stopped once, and made it in about 5 hours. Caroline gave me a bottle of shiraz and The Sex and the City movie for my birthday – so perfect, a great, thoughtful gift. Clint and I freshened up, then we went downtown Greenville for dinner at Trios, an Italian place, and met up with the fabulous Brita Long and Nancy, my tridelt big sister, and her husband Joseph. Trios was delicious – I do love their flatbread – and we moseyed over to Luna Rosa for some gelato, “birthday cake” being my selection because it had sprinkles mixed in. The 6 of us then made our way to Falls Park, one of my favorite – if not most favorite – spots in Greenville. It was very fun spending time with some of my very favorite people. The Norts went home and the rest of us went to a bar to meet up with some Furman people. The bar was very crowded, and the crowd was pretty trashy, and we were tired so we did not stay long.

Saturday we were on the road by 9:45 and made our way to CHARLESTON. We made good time on the road and arrived by lunch time. Mandy & David were meeting up with “some of the boys” for lunch which we figured meant my ex so Caroline, Clint, and I went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co – the first restaurant I went to my first visit to Charleston back during freshman year – because we wanted seafood and I did not particularly want to be in close proximity with my ex if I didn’t have to. I knew it was inevitable that we would both be at the wedding this weekend, but I did not see it necessary to share a meal. Caroline and I shared a delicious dish of tilapia with a mango & pineapple salsa – very refreshing and Clint got a hamburger – a Charleston hamburger. The three of us then moseyed to the Battery, one of my favorite spots in Charleston and took some pictures and drank in the gorgeous day.

We then went back to our hotel and got to spend time with our friends – Mandy, David, Amanda, and Ann – while getting ready for the wedding. Twas great fun seeing them again. We cabbed it to the church and were greeted by bagpipes and big “L”s with flowers on them. The bridesmaids wore navy and carried pink flowers and Tyner had a lovely lace dress. I especially liked the wedding message and how in their vows they said “I take you as a gift from God.” It was a very sweet, beautiful ceremony. It was so nice having Clint on one side of me and Caroline on the other. I was excited and anxious and Caroline helped calm my nerves. Don’t know what I would do without her.

Afterwards the bagpipe man led us to the reception site at the Wickliffe house, a white, lovely Charleston home. That processional was a neat little experience. There were gorgeous flower arrangements and a tent outside for dancing. The Furman people congregated upstairs and had our dinner and drinks while catching up. It was so fun socializing and made me miss Furman people, my tridelt friends, Pi Kapps, oh so much. It made me very nostalgic. It is difficult seeing those people for such a brief amount of time. I wish I could have spent a week with them. I barely got to see Tyner except to steal her for a picture, and I only spoke with CB briefly. It was so nice seeing CB and John together, sweet as can be. I was SO happy to see Jenni!!! I have missed her so much. Bridgette and Cory are just as cute as can be and Bridgette was a lovely bridesmaid. I loved getting to see Leanna as well, and am very thankful that I got to spend so much time with her during my senior year. It was great to pick up right where we left off with Ann. I really liked getting to see some of the Pi Kapp boys – Luke, Sharkey, Happy Meal, Dan, to name a few. I had a good conversation with John Seul and was very impressed by him and how kind he was to me and Clint, too. I’m glad the boys were really nice to Clint and did not shun him. I called John out for being rude to me when I dated his friend, and he genuinely apologized and explained himself. Said friend sat back to back to Clint during dinner but never said a word to us. Clint was an incredible date. He was very social, very attentive, very handsome and easy going – a perfect gentleman. Our outfits coordinated, which pleased me. He wore a light gray suit with a black, white, and gray tie and I wore a white dress with black flowers on it and my custom made pearl, cracked glass, and beaded jewelry set that my aunt made for me.

I’m still trying to figure out why I was so anxious to see my ex. Partly because last wedding I went to where he was there he said harsh words to me and I did not want that to happen again. Maybe it did just make me sad to see him, hard to see someone that I used to know so well that I know I’ve hurt and probably harbors negative feelings for me and I can’t change that, and I don’t like to think there’s someone out there who won’t even speak to me. I don’t know what we would say to each other. I pray for him, that he can find peace and love through God and let go of the anger and hurt. God has helped me do that, and so now I can laugh at how absurd and immature we both acted in our relationship and hope he can get there some day if he isn’t already. For whatever reason, it was difficult seeing him. Caroline said his eyes kept darting over to me. I hope it wasn’t hard for him to see me there. I wouldn't wish the anxiety I felt on anyone.

I didn’t have any cake but the food sure was delicious. Crab cakes, black bean cakes, scallops with a yummy marinade. I just loved being able to talk to so many old friends. We went outside and danced for a little bit and sent off the happy couple with sparklers. It was around 11:20 when we finally called it a night and I was quite drunk.

Yesterday was a long day in the car but there is no one else I would have rather spent 9 hours in the car with than the love of my life, my darling angel, who said he “will always take care of me” and lives out those words. I feel as though, with him by my side, I can do anything. I’ve never felt so loved and accepted and cared for and delighted in.

Next summer I already know of about 4 weddings and cannot wait to go. A whole day devoted to celebrating two people being in love, what could be better! Mandy and I got to talk about hers a bit and I got to see pics of the reception site. Loved getting to see Hannah, and we got to talkin’ a bit about Bridgette’s bridesmaids dresses.

Wish I could see these people every weekend and “back to reality” has been a big slap in the face. Have to go to the dentist today for a checkup and woke up from a nightmare this morning that I had left my car in a dangerous spot and had to go back and get it late at night and find a man to escort me because there were dangerous figures lurking. Remember that time I was moving to the 2nd dangerous city in the country? Groan. I’m excited about my move, I really am, but sad the summer is over so soon. It flew by. I am going to miss my family, my doggie, my Clint. I hate being reminded how much I miss my friends and today I’m just really sad about it because I don’t know when I’ll see them again. I miss what was and have a brilliant way of forgetting the stress and bad times and just recalling the good ol’ days of my little life at Furman. I shall be thankful for what was, what is, and what will be. I may still make the same careless mistakes but I’ve known that I have grown and come a long way and can be thankful for that, thankful that my experiences and relationships from college have helped shaped me into a better person.

WOW. I saw the daily devotional a lady displays near my office and it says:

Never let yesterday use up too much of today.

Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new. - Isaiah 43:18-19

That's God's promise to me. How desperately I needed to be reminded of this and will cling to this as I was letting yesterday's troubles spill into today and guilt get to me.

There is no guilt here
There is no shame
No pointing fingers
There is no blame
What happened yesterday…has disappeared
The dirt has washed away
And now it's clear

There's only grace
There's only love
There's only mercy and believe me it's enough
Your sins are gone
Without a trace
And there's nothing left now
There's only grace
(Matthew West, Only Grace)