The Final Twenty Four

So here we are, the night before my wedding.

I've just left our pre-wedding dinner which, like all thing's Josh's family is associated with has turned into a fully fledged celebration, sweeping up family, friends and strangers alike in its power.

I tried to warn the bar/restaurant about what life was like when the Isaacs come to town but how exactly do you describe something akin to the friendly hurricane? One that overwhlems you, not with wind, but with hugs, kisses, dancing, yelling and unbridled enthusiasm.

And there I was, in the middle of it all, but yet missing all of it. It's a crazy thing to have 100 of your closest family and friends gathered to start celebrating with you, to be surrounded by people who love you and are excited for you and yet be divorced from it all. Standing there and watching all of these people, seeing your two families who were two hours ago strangers chatting away like they've been friends forever, and not feel anything.

That was why I really had to leave. Because it ached seeing all these people having a great time, knowing that it was all because they are so excited about tomorrow, and yet be completely immune to the overwhelming aura of joy pervading every nook and cranny of the restaurant. Especially when complete strangers, people who don't know from Adam and just happen to be there having dinner, are congratulating you and joining in the party.

It's been a hard day, for both of us. While everyone else has been resting up and kicking back in anticipation, we've been dealing with a whole lot of things all conspiring together to go wrong. From the small (Josh managing to get a big greasy smear across his tie meaning he needs to find a new one tomorrow morning), to the big (a lady driving up the back of our rental car), to the frustrating (ringing my hairdresser to confirm the start time to discover they only had a booking for two, instead of six of us) to the "that's it, we're going to Vegas" (the sound guy at the church deciding to chuck a massive tanty when he realised Josh knew far more about sound than he did), to the AAARRRGGGGHHHH (five people pulling out and having to completely redo the seating plan for the 18th time, after it's all been printed and is at the venue), to the "Are you kidding me?" (picking up our programmes to discover their service didn't include actualy stapling them together), we're completely exhausted.

All I could think, as I stood watching all these people having the time of their lives was "Dear God, please let me get my joy back by tomorrow, because otherwise I'm going to miss what is supposed to be one of the best days of my life."

But it's okay, well not the $300 excess we have to pay on the car for something that wasn't Josh's fault, but the rest of it, because tomorrow, even if my hair is rushed, and the programmes aren't stapled and the sound guy sulks, I'm marrying the most amazing guy in the world. And that's all that really matters.