Back in The 5-0-5!!!

Well kids, as most of you have probably already heard, I came back to New Mexico for a little while! I’m still here, as I’m writing this, but I’m going back to Norwich on January 10^th. I came back because all the pieces fell in place, and it was supposed to be a surprise, especially for Laura, as I came back for her wedding and she didn’t know (!), and it was absolutely amazing! Anyway, I should probably explain what the deal is.

Ok, so I was in Germany a few months ago hanging out with Jimmy. Well, Jimmy was the best man in Chris & Laura’s wedding, and so he had already been planning on flying home (back to NM) for Christmas and then for the wedding, on January 4^th, but I, on the other hand, had already made the choice to stay in England over Christmas, New Years, and the wedding. But, while I was in Germany, I was talking to Chris online, and he was saying that I needed to come back for the wedding, and he’d do whatever he could to get me to NM so that we could surprise Laura for the wedding, and have that be her wedding present. So I thought about it, and I really wanted to come home, not just for the wedding, but to be able to see my family and friends also. So after talking to my dad, and my dad talking to Mr. Wesselman (who’s an airline pilot for Delta Airlines), we were able to get me a relatively inexpensive stand by flight out of London on New Years Eve.

So after spending Christmas with Lucy’s family (which was a ton of fun, btw), Lucy took me to the airport stupidly early on New Year’s Eve and I started my rather long journey. But thank God up in Heaven, I caught the two flights that I needed to catch and I was able to make it back into NM by about 8pm that night. I even got good seats on the airplane, so I was pretty happy about that. Well when I got in, my parents and brother picked me up at the airport and we got some much needed (and much craved) Mexican food. But seeing as it was New Year’s, I called Chris to see where he and Laura were so that I could surprise her with the fact that I was in town. So I went up to this house that they were at, and I walked in with Chris, but Laura was facing the other way playing Guitar Hero. So instead of saying anything, I just stood there and hoped she’d notice me. It was kinda dark though, and she was rather engrossed in her game, so it took a minute, but she turned around briefly to say something to Chris (who I was standing next to) and her gaze just briefly passed over me, and then a split second later it registered in her mind and she whirled around speechless, eventually nearly bowling me over with a massive hug! Then Shannon and Brie noticed, and it was hugs all around!

Anyway, I ended up staying there til just past midnight, but I had been awake for just over 26 hours so I went to my parent’s house and crashed for the night. But, thanks to this wonderful thing called jet lag, I was awake promptly at 8am the next morning (bother!) and the next 3 mornings after that.

But amidst all of this, I should explain a couple things. First, I was in the wedding… and Chris knew, but Laura didn’t. See, Laura had asked me to be in the wedding (a couple times, actually) before I left, but I had told her I couldn’t, so when Chris told me I had to come for the wedding, he told me to order a bridesmaid’s dress and that he’d find anther groomsman and not tell Laura about any of this. Well I accidentally ordered a dress that was too small, but I had it rush-delivered to my parent’s house, and I wasn’t able to try it on. So my mother (who is smaller than me) tried it on, and it was tight on her! So by the grace of God, and after a few tailors saying “no way”, a family friend of ours was able to (and I still don’t know how she did it…. I’m going to just say it was a miracle) make the dress too big for me, so she ended up having to take it in! On top of all this, I got sick the day before I left, so here I am trying to get better as I’m flying 16 hours home, and going to the bachelorette party and the rehearsal dinner and ultimately the wedding. Needless to say, its been a hectic week.

Well the wedding was on Friday, and it was beautiful and perfect and fun and all those things a wedding should be. Laura looked awesome, Chris couldn’t have possibly been any happier, and everything seemed to go off without a hitch. And now they’re off on their honeymoon in Florida, and I’m sure they’re having an awesome time.

On a different note, coming home (apart from the wedding, and all that) has been awesome. I don’t think I really realized how much I missed New Mexico. Even just seeing the mountains, and having dry weather, and seeing the sun shine 5 out of 6 days, were all things that I truly missed, from the bottom of my heart. I knew I missed my friends and my family, and seeing them all is something I wouldn’t trade for the world, but missing New Mexico itself to such an extent almost caught me off guard. I had imagined that moving to England would just solidify in my mind how lame New Mexico was and how awesome Europe was. Instead I think I learned that England’s just another part of the civilized world, and not really all that much more different or better. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and I’m excited to go back to Norwich (especially to see my friends, and hang out with everybody, and live in my flat and all), but I know I’ll be there for six months and then I’m coming back to New Mexico. And quite frankly, I’m 100% fine with that.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. I’ve been able to go shopping, drive on the right hand side of the road again, eat green chile and Mexican food in surplus amounts, hang out with all my friends, and see a bazillion movies: hehe, all the things I wanted to do. But, I’m excited to go back and finish out my year abroad. I miss England! But NM, I’m coming back!