Friday, September 27, 2013

Maui

So it's back to reality for me. The past couple of weeks have been amazing, starting with an amazing wedding shower that my parents threw for me. From the luau decorations, tiki bar and the food, it was phenomenal! for last minute invites and registering at bed bath and beyond, the turnout was awesome and I got almost everything off my registry. I got to catch up with old friends and family I hadn't seen in ages, and afterward went back to my house with all our loot and cash and partied at Mark's pig roast/keggar, with a lot of fun people, followed by me passing out and throwing up after many shots of tequila.

Traveling to Maui was no picnic. All in all it was about 22 hours of travel time, including a not so fun 5 hour layover at LAX, and going through security multiple times because I needed a cigarette. We arrived in paradise at about 11pm, so we couldn't see anything, we got our rental car and slept like rocks. I woke up early the next morning and stepped out onto the balcony only to see beautiful palm trees and my first view of the pacific ocean, it took my breath away. The week was filled with amazing firsts and moments I wouldn't trade for anything. We rented snorkel gear and only 20 feet out on our beach we saw a turtle, it swam right underneath us. We took a snorkel cruise and a huge school of dolphins danced and jumped and swam right next to our boat. We got up at 2:30am and drove to the summit of Haleakala (a dormant volcano, 10,000 feet!!) and watched the sunrise above the clouds. We drove a good portion of the road to Hana and drank coconut water from full size coconuts, ate fresh pineapple from a roadside stand, saw a waterfall and trekked through lush and beautiful rainforest. And of course we had to go to a luau, where we saw awesome dances, made new friends with a ton of newlyweds, ate until we could burst and watched a man toss flaming sticks all over the place.

I've never truly fallen in love with a location before. After a little while, I'm always ready to come home, but in less than a day of smelling the flowers and seeing the ocean and just the feel of the island, it broke my heart to have to leave it and come back to New England...and yes, I did cry when it came time to leave...

The wedding was nothing short of amazing. Mark and I felt so close and so in love, we didn't even remember that we had a camera on us the whole time. We were almost late to our own wedding, after I spent close to three hours at the beauty salon! Makena Cove was beautiful, with the waves crashing on the rocks behind us as we exchanged our vows. I was more than happy with the ukulele musician, it was perfect throughout the whole ceremony. Just after we were pronounced husband and wife and we kissed, he began to play "Somewhere over the rainbow" and I lost it, it was the happiest moment of my life, and I balled like a baby. Even in the wedding video you can hear me say, "This is the most perfect moment of my life."

It was hard coming home, lucky only about 13 hours of travel coming back. So far out of all the pets, Toots is the only one home and he's happy that way. My parents leave for Florida tomorrow, it's not going to be an easy couple of days. Then I go back to work on Monday, from what I hear the place is horrible, my lead tech took early maternity leave (3 months early to be exact), short staffed and shitty...honeymoon is over...

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

I don't know if I posted on here that my parents are leaving. They are quitting their jobs, sold their house and at the end of this month moving down to Florida with no set home, work or anything really. It's very much out of character but then again, most of the decisions they have been making over the past couple of years have made little to no sense to me either. Yesterday they showed a side that really pissed me off. Mark's grandfather passed away after a too short battle with cancer. A few months ago Mark's parents wanted to throw us a wedding party. Even under the difficult circumstances, with pop's diagnosis, going on hospice, etc, they still insisted on throwing us a party, but about two weeks ago, they realized they just could not do it. At first Mark and I were upset, kind of mad because we couldn't get any straight answers out of them, mad because they insisted and then suddenly about a month before the wedding we had to make new plans, but once his mother actually came over and talked it over with us, we were more than understanding. So my mom said she would throw a wedding shower for me and Mark would have a sort of bachelor party/BBQ in the back yard for his friends and family. Well that has been all well and good, until yesterday...

Mark's mom asked me the other day if the party was the more the merrier, of course it is, that's the impression my mom gave me, more people more money, gifts. Well, I tell her so and she hands me a list, so I send it to my mom to send out invites. My parents show up at the wake for pop yesterday, we are standing in line, by the coffin might I add, so they can pay their respects to the family and my mom starts going off about how Mark's mom invited soooo many people and she was supposed to be throwing the party in the first place and now she has all these extra mouths to feed. My mom has been telling me all along that we need to invite as many people as possible so we make some money, but because she didn't invite them this isn't ok? Then she gets mad because Mark isn't charging for tickets to his party, who would pay twenty bucks to hang out in our backyard for a while? And also, we were at the reason why Mark's mom couldn't throw the party in the first place, at a WAKE! How disrespectful can you get? And as I'm waiting for my dad to say, "Maybe this isn't the right time," he starts in with, "OH my godddd...why isn't the line moving..." like a child, like someone waiting in line at a fast food restaurant. I was furious....

I'm 24, and I seem to have more respect, manners and sympathy than either of them do. I'm grateful that they decided to throw me a wedding shower, do not get me wrong, but my mom is going about it so weird. It's all about the money, the envelopes, getting everything off the registry...doesn't she understand that this party means more than that to Mark and I? that we aren't having a wedding reception or church to do, we will be in Hawaii, alone. We want to see our families and friends and celebrate, and I really won't be pissed off if they show up empty handed. Yes, the money would be great because we could really use it for our new home and so we can actually enjoy our honeymoon, but that is not the reason we are getting together....

At first I was so upset to hear my parents were leaving, but over the past couple months, I feel like I need the time apart anyway. So many times I've talked to my mom about my relationship and had her turn not doing the dishes into he doesn't respect me, only to talk to my new friend, Linda, and have her say, "Do A, B and C and problem solved." I've relied on my parents, especially my mom, for so long, I guess I never really looked at or noticed certain things before that drive me nuts...