Funerals

We went to a friend's funeral this past Saturday.  He was also a coworker of Vega's whom he worked with closely every day for at least the last 6 years.  He was only 44.  He had a wife and two children and already two grandchildren.  I've experienced death before...my grandparents and mostly people who were elderly.  But this friend who died last week was only 44 and it was unexpected.  It's a feeling I've never experienced before.  It's very weird.  You still expect this person to be here and he's not.  You've had conversations with this person who had dreams and goals similar to anyone else's.  He was looking forward to a life not yet lived.  So you go to think about him and have to tell yourself, "Oh he's gone".  It's just a very weird feeling.  But it really makes you think about your own life and if you were to leave this earth before you've achieved a long life.  And I also think he wasn't ready yet.  Or at least if he was he had to prepare rather quickly.  He developed an illness that wittled away at his life for about 10 weeks until he didn't have the strength to fight anymore.  I don't have very good answers about death but I do know that I am now going to consciencely cherish every moment I have in this life because now I realize it can be gone all too soon.

Wedding

Well he popped the question and we are getting married in September.  We are really excited.  But we have both been married before and have already been together for almost 6 years.  So we are asking ourselves "What is our wedding budget?"  Man the pressure out there to put on a big wedding is strong! And a wedding can break your budget really fast.  So we are trying to keep it simple but nice.  But every couple of days I run into someone that will say something like "Who's doing your flowers?"  And I'm thinking..."Me?"  I can go to the grocery store the day before the wedding and buy some beautiful flowers, cut them, and wrap the stems in twine and walaa - I have my boquet.  And I can buy some green floral tape and pretty much do the same thing for a boutineer for the groom (which he could probably care less about anyway).  So there...I probably just saved myself at least $500.00.  Besides we are having an outdoor wedding and reception so nature pretty much takes care of the flower problem anyway.  And I'm not making everyone in my wedding spend a fortune on dresses either.  Simple...they can shop for their own dresses - they just have to be navy blue.  That way they don't have a dress they only wear once to a wedding.  It's something they picked out for themselves - it's just in a color I chose.  And really since it's an outdoor wedding and reception tuxes aren't really necessary either.  I think nice navy blue pants with a white shirt and navy/green tie would be quite handsome and comfortable.  And they can keep it for future use instead of paying $130.00 for a tux they have to return.

For now I'm really trying to shop smart for the wedding....I will keep you posted how its going.