My flight left at 11pm. After working all day and usually being asleep around 10, definitely by 10:30, I was exhausted before even getting on the plane. I forgot my pillow so I ended up buying a memory foam neck pillow at the airport. It's not the most comfortable thing, but when is sleeping sitting up comfortable anyway? I'm really glad I had it. I was sitting in the middle seat, was asleep before take-off, and was awake for maybe a half hour for the entire flight. It was to Chicago, only four hours, so not tons of sleep, but better than nothing. We landed in Chicago at 4:45am, so almost 3am in my mind. Starbucks in the airport opens at 5 in case anyone was wondering. Jamba Juice does not. My flight to Sioux Falls left at 8:30, I think, so I had some time to kill. I walked to the complete other side of O'Hare, took some pictures, found the light-up walkway, found the Urban Garden (pretty cool since it's in the middle of the airport), and then tried to find an outlet to charge my phone. I brought work, but instead of doing it like I really should have, I watched the latest Grey's Anatomy and then stared off into space. It was productive. The Sioux Falls flight was very similar to the Chicago flight. Slept the entire thing. It was only an hour and a half, but any sleep was good sleep at this point.
Dad picked me up from the airport and bought me Caribou. He was also very understanding in my change of plans to stop by the Workmans super quick and see Deb and Jen before heading down to Vermillion. I'm glad we went because it was the only time I got to see Jen. We drove down to Vermillion as I drank my Caribou and stared at the flat fields of corn and soybeans. Dad so very kindly let me borrow his car for the weekend, so he dropped me off at Mom's. I was going to take a nap, but decided to see people first. I went to go surprise my mom at work, see Erin and then stopped by the Dickensons. THEN, I went to take a nap. I was really afraid that I would wake up with a headache, but I didn't thank goodness. Mom and I went to RED and then I went to Carey's. Callie and Jamie from this summer met me there as well as Erin and Dave. Sorry, Erin and Dave. I talk to you all the time. I don't talk to Callie and Jamie very often! Carey's was wonderful, but the caffiene in my drink was a bad idea.
Saturday morning came very quickly. I packed up some stuff and left Vermillion. :-( I met some of the girls to get our hair done in Sioux Falls. It was a fast and wonderful day. It was also very emotional. Jacquie's mom died suddenly in May. Her presence was definitely there on Saturday. After hair, we went back to the hotel, started getting ready, left for lunch, finished getting ready, and then boarded the bus to the winery, just outside of Canton. Jacquie and Dan had rented a 56 passenger bus for the wedding party as well as some guests. It was great, since there was obviously going to be some drinking at the winery.
Once we were at the site, Jac and Dan explained the day and did quick introductions. They had 27 people in their wedding party! We drank some wine and got on with the rehearsal. FYI, the end of October in South Dakota is FREEZING. It was probably in the 40s? with wind. The wind was the bad part. They lined up all up, went over the basics of the ceremony, and then we practiced walking in and out. I was standing next to Travis and Randy, who are both much taller than me (not so hard). At one point, they ended up standing behind me to try to block the wind.
After the quick rehearsal, we went on to pictures, which were all outside. It was still cold but it wasn't as bad. The pictures were fun. I can't wait to see them! After pictures, we just hung out until it was wedding time. We watched people arriving and drank some more wine. The wedding itself was beautiful, although I remember very few details. It was warmer, thanks to the love in the air and the wine...also the wind died down. The reception was also nice. Good food. There was buffalo dip that Jac's mom had started preparing and had frozen before she died. It was probably the best thing there. Well, that and the chocolate fountain. The reception lasted until about 9:30 and then we helped clean up. The bus was full back to Sioux Falls, so some of the wedding party (mostly) got to stand in the aisle. I was totally exhausted by this point so standing was probably beneficial. I think I would have fallen asleep otherwise.
When we got back to Sioux Falls, we hung out for a bit while the couple dropped their stuff off and decided where to go. The first plan was to go to a bar in Sioux Falls. I can't say I was terribly excited for it because it was going to be loud and crowded since it was Saturday night. Turns out, the place they had talked about had a $10 cover charge. When I first heard that, I decided I wasn't going to go because that was too much money to deal with a bar when I was already so tired. The final plan ended up being the hotel bar. It was perfect. It was quiet, cheap, and since there were so many of us, there was enough space. I had originally planned on staying until about 12 or 12:30. I stayed until 2. I was tired, but just didn't want to go to bed and miss anything. I finally said goodbye to everyone and went to bed.
Sunday was a busy day too. I ignored my alarm for close to an hour. I showered and used the entire bottle of shampoo in order to get the hair spray out of my hair. I stopped at Caribou (I MISS CARIBOU!!!) and went to Chelsea's. It was good to see her. I got to see Luke for about five minutes after he woke up. After Chelsea's, I went to Workmans. That was great of course. Satchel played the cello for me and Preston tapped. I love them so much! I took videos. I was updated on many aspects of Workman life. I love catching up with them.
Before I went to the airport, I went to Jimmy Johns to get a thank you for Flako for taking me to the airport. I wanted to get him an actual sandwich, but didn't want my stuff to smell like that. I got him two loaves of bread. He was ecstatic, which was hilarious. Check-in was smooth. My suitcase was 46 pounds! I tried calling Po at the airport, but she didn't answer. As I was trying to figure out what I should do instead, I looked up and saw a guy I knew from high school, that I don't think I've talked to since then. I might have seen him a few times at the bar randomly, but I hadn't talked to him. We talked for like 45 minutes before I had to go to my gate. He's not someone I was friends with, but it was cool to catch up. There's very few people I would ignore out of the 96 I graduated with.
The flight home was pretty uneventful. I stayed awake, did a little work, and laughed at the hunters on the first flight. I tried really hard to sleep on the second flight. I did a little bit but it wasn't very restful. I got home about 11:30, brought my suitcase upstairs, knocked something off my screen door, tried to take it off, and then fell over my suitcase. Winner. I couldn't fall asleep (of course) until about 1, so 6:30 came quite quickly.
The weekend doesn't seem real. There never seems to be enough time at weddings and I didn't get to hang out with Jacquie as much as I would have liked, but I wasn't expecting to either. I brought back some pictures and photo books. I'm hoping it will help make it feel more like home and not temporary or surreal.
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