The Falls. The Flatulence. Part troix.

On Tuesday, Jim and Brittany got married in front of Looking Glass Falls, which is also in Pisgah National Forest. The falls are beautiful. They have these steps that let you go right to the bottom, and I just stood down there for a while and squealed like a little kid in a candy store. The wedding itself was beautiful too. I've been to all kinds of weddings, but this one was the best of all. Brittany wore this simple but then not simple white dress (it was very boho chic), and Jim had on jeans, although he did have on a dress coat. The rest of us were wearing jeans and huddling together like Eskimos. Garrett did the honors, and Lou and Matt Callis played. I was thinking, "This is like the definition of a Shack wedding." Everybody was crying and stuff...aww...

Now, then, the reception. Oh, the reception. This restaurant called Hobknob in Brevard catered, and they did an excellent job. I couldn't eat much because I'm not used to such rich food, but it was really good. We cleaned out the tables before we left, and we were eating off that food until we left. Unfortunately, said food contained an obscene amount of feta cheese, spinach, and other gas-inducing food. You can imagine what happened next. Let's just say there was a lot of laughter. And wishes for air freshener.

After that, we went shopping in Brevard. I spent most of my time in a thrift store that was also the Humane Society. That was...interesting. There was this one cat who was evil. I'm serious. It was big and black, and when it wasn't pointedly ignoring you, it was rolling its eyes at you. So I cooed to it, "You're an evil kitty, aren't you? Yes, you're the spawn of the Devil!"

The cat glared at me. I swear.

We also went by Brevard Music Center. Lou was our tour guide and shared fond memories of her camp days with us. It was huge and scenic, and we all felt inadequate afterwards.

We also hung out at this coffee shop called Essence of Thyme. Brittany Jo read Clifford's Family out loud to us, so the waiter recommended another children's book to us. It was Old Turtle, the book Garrett had preached a sermon on a few months ago. How's that for coincidence?

That night, we had mini-Family Reunion. Garrett read Scripture, a song played, and we shared stories about the trip so far. What surprised me was the number of people who were hurting. I hadn't even noticed. Lou broke down in tears, she was so upset, and I hadn't even noticed. That was jarring. I think I need to pay more attention to people's feelings now. I've had to turn off my emotions for so long, they're a little rusty.

When Family Reunion was over, Lou came back to the apartment and pretty much collapsed on her bed and bawled some more. Cindy and Christina came up and wallowed in sorrow with her. Meanwhile, I sat on my bed across from them, completely numb. My mind was a blank. I had no idea what to say, but I hated to see Lou like that. I was too scared to cry much. I went downstairs, sat at the table, paced, and came back up, all the while mentally kicking myself for my sudden mental and emotional freeze. Finally I decided to go downstairs since I wasn't doing any good, but they insisted I join them on the bed, so I did. I still didn't have much to say, so I listened mostly. And somehow I think Lou understood that I did care and I was sorry, even though I couldn't show it much.

Lou and I talked some more that night about various things. Somehow the conversation turned to criteria for boyfriends. I felt like a heathen because Lou was coming up with stuff like praying all night and having Communion together and I was like, "Well, first of all, he can't be ugly. Let's face it, I'm a shallow girl." Now, Lou had some shallow criteria too (like taking her horseback riding), but I won the shallow award for that particular exchange. Lou really got a kick out of my "no playas" criterion. "I can smell a playa a mile away," I declared. There are few things I truly despise in this world, but saccharine, honey-spewing males are way up there on my list. That night, I went to bed still a little worried for Lou, but I was glad that I could be there for my friend.

Ah, yes! How could I forget? We also had a toga party that night. With clothes though, so it'd be "God-friendly", as Brittany Jo so aptly put it. It was basically a bunch of crazy people in sheets dancing to techno music, but it was so funny. And embarrassing. I'm ashamed that there's documentation that I was there. Yeah, that's one of those pictures you see that pops up randomly on Shack announcements before Reunion...