Yesterday I went to my friends wedding... That is him with Mamta, after they tied the knot...
I had known Randy, not in person, but over the phone since 2000. We worked together at Embarg, well... I was at Embarq, he was at Network Tallahassee.... I was his service representative... We talked about everything... Politics, his love life, my love life, his pets, my pets... other departments at Sprint (that is who we were then..., not Embarq), and then in 2007 my job was sent to Indiana, and I had to take another position at Embarq (previously known as
Sprint) About 3 months later George and I got married... I had told Randy if he ever got married, I would come to his wedding... sooooo, I kept my word...
So a friend, of 7 years, I met for the first time at his wedding... I also met some other friends, Josh Hillman and Krishna Singh...(they work at Network Tallahassee as well). They were all shocked that I would make the trip, but I figured that a couple of hundred miles was not too far to travel for a friend, and besides, I was happy for him... He was happy, and even though we did speak on the phone anymore, almost everyday... I was still happy for him...
He and Mamta had a beautiful wedding... I was a day long event...It was at the Steinhatchee Resort, in Steinhatchee, Florida. Steinhatchee is on the west coast of Florida, and if you went to Gainesville, and made a left (if you were coming from the south) and then go as far as you can, without driving into the gulf... (which George and I almost did) you would be in Steinhatchee...
At 11:00 was the conventional American ceremony, then at 2:30 was the Indian (I am thinking Hindu) ceremony... In between was lunch, and last was the formal reception...
George and I drove up the night before, and stayed at the Steinhatchee Inn, and went to the wedding from there... The priest for the Indian Ceremony had car trouble and arrive late, about 4 or 5 hours late... but George and I enjoyed the area...visited with people, and had a very enjoyable day...
So... let me tell you about Steinhatchee Florida... first... we have an Obama/Biden bumper sticker on the back of my car, and at one point I had to ask directions at a convenience store... (one of many, right along with Dollar Generals between Ocala and Steinhatchee) I have a confession to make... I was afraid that if I "loitered" or made my presence or car more known... unspeakable things could happen to me... I think we were the 0nly car or better yet Obama/Biden sign, within 200 miles of where we were... Not to say it wasn't a safe area... it was very safe...just not for Obama supporters...if yo know what I mean... It is truly amazing to me that there are places like that in the United States....
The care takers of the Inn or Motel we stayed at, were very funny, and very nice... I didn't get their names, but they were of the same political, or social persuasion as George and I.... It was funny, I truly felt like an alien there, and you had to have a secret hand shake, or talk in code with people so as not to give up your cover... The bumper sticker pretty much blew that cover for us, very quickly... So when they started talking to us openly about "things", boy was I relieved...
Anyway... it was a nice weekend... we left there at 10:30 PM, and were home by 1:30 AM. Very happy to pull into our garage, and crawl into our bed.
I left the wedding wishing Mamta and Randy congratulations, and much happiness, and have another Christmas Card to add to my list... We will let each other know about cool computer games, and hopefully be able to remain friends... It isn't often you find someone you feel comfertable with. I hope he feels the same way....
