Tommy's Wedding, July 15, 2006

>>>we're working on it here now, cut us some slack, lol<<<

We all got the email, Tommy and Jess were getting married. This was months ago, and somewhat surprising because we had always figured Tommy would be the last of us to get hitched. Jess is a good match for him, she is on the absolute opposite side of everything from me when it comes to politics, but is a sweetheart, she is really cool.

The day after the Cincy Poison show, I left on my way to DC. The plan was to stay at Rob and Scotty's that night, then the four of us, Rob, Scotty, Rashmi, & Me, would commute down 95. Rob and I had made reservations at the "Duke of York" in March, right after we got our 'Save the Date' notices. Got to Rob and Scotty's around 10pm and started uploading our pictures from Vegas, which took longer than I thought it would.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

I woke up, due to Scotty and Rob talking, and moved into another room to continue sleeping. Rob popped in a bit before noon, "What the hell are you doing, you're still asleep, get in the shower now, we have Tommy's wedding to go to."

Rob: "How many UVA grads does it take to wrap a couple of wedding presents. Apparently more than 4, seeing as we have now run out of wrapping paper."

We left, around 12:45-1:00pm, and took the back roads to 95 South. Rob and I grew up in this area, so we knew where we were going, although I didn't see the "Prison-View Estates" sign when we passed Lorton. Made it onto 95 South near Woodbridge.

Rob and Scotty were sending text messages back and forth, when suddenly, Scotty had to go potty. Rashmi motioned wildly to me (she was behind me, I saw her in the rear view mirror), so we took the next exit. Rob and I were talking about stopping at a McDonald's or a WaWa (I wanted a fountain soda, they are so much better than cans or bottles), when suddenly, her car took on a life of it's own, appearing out of nowhere in front of us, jumping around corners and whatnot, kinda like a cartoon. I guess she hit the Go Go Gadget Wheels button on her SUV. She dropped him off at the door of some Panera Bread joint and he ran inside. We got lunch to-go at Panera.

After we picked up lunch, we quickly returned to 95 and I was instructed to "step it up a notch." I found a Marine (he was driving an SUV with a couple of Marine stickers on his back windshield), "yo, this Marine will serve as our pace car." The Marine was cool, he was going 80 mph, although we were a little concerned when he got on his cell phone and I never got to wave "goodbye" to him (we lost him in traffic). He got us all the way to Richmond.

Me: "I feel like we're playing a real-life game of Frogger."

Made it to 64 eastbound, a drop of rain hit my windshield, and traffic came to a complete halt. The last 5 miles took more than 45 minutes. So, we're sitting on 64, listening to Appetite for Destruction, My Michelle comes on and Rob makes the comment, "So, I guess this will be the Daddy-daughter dance at Michelle's wedding." And I comment back, "No, this will be the Auntie f/Miss Michelle party dance at her wedding."

After moving two car lengths, then sitting for 10 minutes, repeatedly, we made it to our exit. Rob was talking with Nadia and Ana, who had both just made it to the hotel. So, we made it to the Duke of York, Rob and Scotty go to check-in. They gave our room away. Read that sentence again, they gave our room away...Rob and I made our reservations in March, and they gave our room away. We called that morning to confirm our reservation and they gave our room away.

Read my entire blog and the following bit is the only instance you will find of any real profanity, they gave our fucking room away.

I went in to find out what was taking so long, Scotty told me,"They gave our room away, we have to go someplace else."

My reaction, directed at the girl behind the counter..."You have got to be fucking shitting me, we made these reservations in March, we goddamn called this morning to confirm. Listen chick, we have a wedding to go to, I'm getting my clothes and I'm changing in your goddamn bathroom. Got it, honey?" I think I may have scared her, but I was mad, really mad, so mad my hands were shaking. This was Tommy's wedding.

So, we ended up at the Yorktown Motor Lodge, after driving through a battlefield.

Rashmi: "I don't think my car has heard so many "Oh my god's" since I got him."

The folks at the Motor Lodge were pretty cool, the guy behind the desk was really helpful, although when Scotty and I got back from 7-11, some folks were giving the two of us some really odd looks. I felt like telling them off, "Yeah, I live in Cincy and I'm hauling around a New York Italian Jew, got a problem with that?" Scotty cautioned me not to, so we went back in to see how Rashmi's "getting ready" process was going. We had assured her that there would be plenty of time to get ready at the hotel, although Rob, Scotty, and I bathed prior to leaving NoVa. It was proceeding as planned and since there had been some rain, the wedding ceremony had yet to take place.

And then Ana called. Her car was apparently overheating and she wanted to know if they could catch a ride with us. We told her it would be fine, get yourselves over here, and we'll go. While we were waiting for them, Rashmi and I dolled ourselves up even more, I think that was the most amount of make-up I have worn since I went as Daphne in a Halloween parade. 20 minutes later, she called back...Could we pick them up at the Duke of York (the place that gave our rooms away)? We were ok with it, but starting to really panic, and told her to get directions from the front desk chick (the one I yelled at). I'm not being critical here at all, just commenting, Liz and I managed to get my overheating Chevy from South Carolina to DC in about 10 hours while we were in highschool (prior to any bus experience), you turn the heat on full-blast, open the windows, and stop every once in awhile to let the car cool off.

After driving back through the battlefield, we made it to the Duke of York, again. To be honest, I was expecting the two of them to be sitting on the curb waiting for us, Rob had to call them. I felt kinda bad when I made the comment, "So, are they showing up sometime today or what?" when they were right behind me. The directions Ana was given were faulty, we got lost, then drove through another battlefield, found out we missed the ceremony, drove through a swamp, and finally some cornfields.

Rob: "Christ, I feel like I'm out in Iowa again."

We finally made it to the place around 7:30pm (we knew we were on the right track when we saw Tommy and Jess signs indicating which way to turn).

***more coming soon***