For those that think they have their stress under control (like me)….think again. For weeks and maybe even months leading up to the wedding, Mitch and I had a super hard time sleeping well. We would wake every hour and then often remain awake after the 4am wake up session. It was hard not to think about all that was about to happen. At least twice I had a nightmare that I forgot the shoes I was wearing to the wedding. Sometimes Words with Friends boards would come to mind and often I found myself thinking about Facebook friends, that I would not otherwise think about, if it weren’t for social media. A couple of times those friends I haven’t seen in decades appeared in my dreams. I tried hard not to think about things that could go wrong, because that is not my M.O. so I was actually a little taken back at the whole sleep deprivation things.
In the last few days before we left for St. Pete, I found it hard to concentrate. I drove slowly in the left lane, aware of my lack of focus. I paced a lot. Thoughts of loading up the car with our clothes, Derek’s tux, Pappa Zipp and Ellie’s clothes (so they wouldn’t have to travel back and forth to Jersey with them) as well as getting excited about seeing family and friends we hadn’t seen in a while and dealing with the reality that others wouldn’t be there, and so many other thoughts continuously swirled through my head.
I worked my meditation best I could. I escaped to the beach for a lot of hours with a friend the week before. It helped, but I learned some valuable lessons through all this and the greatest one was expect the unexpected….
Of all the things I thought about, I never considered the possibility of a gas leak occurring at a very nearby building just before the ceremony was to begin. This meant that people staying within a mile of the hotel, couldn’t get there unless they walked. It was hot and people were wearing gowns and suits. Some were too old to walk. Others were a bit further away. We didn’t learn about this until we were lining up to walk down the aisle. Our nieces and nephew staying .6 miles away took off their shoes and walked. Another trio begged a fire marshal to take them, and he did! One couple missed the ceremony but appeared like magic at the cocktail hour. Same went for Grandma and Grandpa Jones. Poor things drove all the way from Virginia to be here, only to miss the ceremony completely. When I saw Grandpa Dan in the cocktail hour, he said “don’t worry, 100 years from now this isn’t what we will remember.” Wise words.
Mitch and I dealt with some other unexpected things, as I am certain many others might have done, as well. With all the beautiful memories and moments from this weekend, I took away so much love and walked around with an overflowing heart. I not only got to witness Kyle becoming a husband, gaining a daughter and another Zipp, watching Derek walk down the aisle and witness the union, the joy of blending families, seeing my kids so sparkly and happy, and so many other beautiful things, people, sunsets and more…but I also relearned the lesson in expecting the unexpected.
There were other lessons learned through the months leading up to this most joyous event. I learned there are things others care a lot about, that I just don’t and no one can make me. I learned that when you are looking for a dress for your kids wedding, there aren’t as many to choose from as you would think. I learned that people can get VERY opinionated during a process like prepping for your child’s wedding. I could honestly write an entire blog about things people said that I still can’t even believe….This taught me to learn to rephrase my own words when making suggestions. I would like to say I learned that I have the most amazing friends, traveling great distances to be a part of the weekend– but I already knew that. I also knew that no matter how far apart we live, or how infrequently we get to see each other, when I get together with my sister and her family, it’s always amazing. I learned my other nieces and nephew would take off their shoes and walk in the 100 degree weather (after driving many hours) to not miss a minute of the festivities. These were just a few of the lessons….trust me there were many others!
I learned that I need to get back to daily meditation. Today at noon eastern time there is a worldwide effort to get as many people as possible to meditate together on Global Peace. If you are coming to class today, you will be a part of this effort! You can get in on it by going to globalmeditation.chopra.com Additionally, a new 21 day meditation will be starting on Monday. The focus is happiness, but meditation is always good for everything and I am so ready!
Hoping the new Mr. and Mrs. Zipp are having an outstanding time on their honeymoon doing a lot of relaxing and a lot of this………………………
