Back in the U.S.A.

One of my best friends, Quinne, got married on June 27. Originally I had told her that I wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding. But the more Kim and I talked about it, the more I realized I’d feel like a huge jerk if I missed it. So, I bought a ticket home.

Unfortunately, Kim had final exams all week, which meant there was no way that she could make it to the wedding. It was sad leaving Kim behind; it would only be a week, but we had never been so far away from each other.

My old buddy Pat had the bright idea of surprising Quinne rather than telling her I’d be coming. So on the day before the ceremony, we drove to the site of the wedding—Blue Mound State Park, a few miles west of Madison—for the rehearsal. Pat and his wife Megan got out of the car, walked over to Quinne, and said hello. Meanwhile, I stayed in the back seat, hidden by Pat’s suit, which was hanging in front of the back-seat window. Pat told Quinne that he had a surprise for her in his car. So they walked over to the door, and Pat pulled aside his suit. When Quinne saw me, the look on her face was priceless. She yelled, “Oh my god, what the hell are you doing here?!”

Surprise!

The next day, we arrived at the park a bit early so that we could decorate a cake. It was a really cool idea: they got a bunch of plain white cakes and asked several of their friends to decorate them. Quinne and Josh will be moving to China to teach for two years, so my friend Chris asked me to help him write the Chinese words for Love (愛) and Marriage (婚姻). Frosting isn’t exactly my medium of choice…but with our powers combined, we were able to make a fairly close approximation of the Chinese characters. And Pat made a cake that depicted our road trip to California in 2002; I played no role in the decoration of that cake, but I was more than happy to take partial credit for it.

After 29 years, I still can’t tie my own tie.

The wedding itself was great. Quinne and Josh had all of their bridesmaids and groomsmen give a little speech, and all of them were very heartfelt. In between the tears, there was also singing and dancing. And that was just the ceremony! At the reception, there was even more dancing. The party lasted until about 10:30, at which point the park rangers made us pack up. The party continued at a nearby bar and went on into the wee hours.

Good times

All in all, it was a great time, and I’m really glad I was there—I just wish Kim could have been there with me! Speaking of Kim, she finished all of her finals, and then she and a friend headed off to Brazil’s northeast coast to spend a few days on the beach.

I’ll be heading back to South America on Tuesday, and I’ll meet up with Kim at Iguazu Falls—one of the world’s most spectacular waterfalls! From there, we’ll begin a seven-week trip that will take us through Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru. I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to update the blog, but I’m hoping to do it pretty regularly. There will definitely be a lot to talk about. Stay tuned.