Chestertown

Yesterday (Sat.) I got up @ 6:15 and threw two changes of clothes in a duffel bag and hit the road for Chestertown and Alvin and Doretta's wedding about 7:30. I drove. Things went well during the first part of the trip except for the Grandma that tried pretty hard to bash in my rear end with her gold SUV. Notice I said first part of the trip. I had printed MapQuest directions. They stunk! They told me to turn left onto 290 instead of right. (They changed the exit recently that instead of being as shown, you went past 290 and then curved back.) I had already turned right (North), 'cause I instinctively knew that that was correct. But Mom said, "Stop!" The directions say left. So I screeched a U-ey and headed South 'till it T-ed. Then we decided the only thing to do was to go the other way that we had heard about, but was longer. So we went back to 301 and went back South (we had just come North on it) for about 20 mi. and then turned North onto 213. We took this thru multiple small towns. It took us about an extra hour. 213 merged with 290!! We were about 4 mi. from where we were an hour ago!! GRRR!!! Oh well... I was a car parker at the wedding. Ray (Doretta's nephew) was my fellow car parker. I hadn't brought my sunglasses, but Glen gave me his Oakleys. While I was parking, who should drive in but Louisa Schmucker (from KS)! She is Alvin's (groom) 1st cuz. I got a $10 gift certificate to WMart for helping. The preacher was great! He also had a pretty daughter. These two facts are easily explainable by this fact: The preacher is my 1st cuz once removed and the daughter is my second cuz. The preacher told the story of the time that some newlyweds were at his house and they were leaving after spending the time at his house with entwined hands. He had a pile of thorny brush in his lawn. The preacher and family left first. The newlyweds followed. The bumber hooked the brush pile. They dragged that brush pile 7-8 mi. before the last piece fell off. They never noticed it! He said their heads were together the whole time. He said it was the funniest thing looking in the rearview mirror and seeing this brushpile coming behind this car. When they met cars, the other cars would swing waaaayyy over to the shoulder to avoid the brush pile! The tables had goldfish in vases. Glen took a live goldfish and put it in Alvin's mashed potatoes's gravy. Alvin ate his mashed potatoes and gravy! Alvin did not notice the goldfish. Alvin got the hiccups. At open mic, Glen told his cuz Doretta (bride) that she shouldn't worry too much about cooking for Alvin. She could put a goldfish in his mashed potatoes and he wouldn't notice! I almost busted a gut trying to keep from roaring when at open mic two people said something about "I think they'll make out fine." or "see how they'll make out."!! Louisa caught it too and whispered, "Don't say that!" (btw, after lunch Lousia came over to my table and we talked a while. Dave Nisly's family and I were the only ones at that table.) Alvin's dad gave a long speech, and did a good job. His wife said these words, "My husband pretty much said it all, but I want to welcome you into the family." This was such a stark and funny contrast to her husband that everyone laughed. When Alvin came up to talk, he said, "My Mom isn't famous for her public speaking, but Dad and I more than make up for that." He continued with this anecdote: "I used to have this Crown Victoria. A guy's dream car. Big, strong, powerful. It had tinted windows and it looked just like a cop car. I never had trouble with people not giving me respect on the road. It was starting to get old, so I was looking to get another car. I thought about getting another Crown Victoria, but finally, reluctantly decided against it, because I needed something more economical; that didn't guzzle the gas, and that wasn't so expensive in the first place. When I told Doretta she breathed a sigh of relief and said, 'Boy am I glad! When you came to pick me up, I felt like I was in custody or something!' I kinda liked that idea!" If you know Alvin, you can imagine his chuckle as he said that last sentence! Glen, Darrell, 'drew, and I went over to some guy's house and played bball for about 1.5 hours and then went to the gym and played vball. The bball was awesome! The vball was awesomer! I had my best vball night EVER! I was doing spikes I had never done before. Bonerattling dives! (toward the end, I was leaving Hans shaped sweat marks on the floor! btw, the floor was concrete) It was hilarious: one time the best spiker went up to spike, swung, and totally missed the ball! The ball landed on his head! Everyone cracked up!! There was a cooler of soda. I had three Mt. Dews and a caffinated root beer. The Schrock boys had similiar levels of caffination. The ride home was overcaffinatedly silly. I had a caffeine hangover this morning! Amazingly I went right to sleep. I feel like an old granny with triple arthiritis, rheumatism, and osterperosis thrown into the mix as well! I am sore as a, as a... as something sore!