My time in Atlanta began with a late evening pick-up at Atlanta-Hartsfield from Dave and Chelsea. They were kind enough to host my last four nights in Atlanta when I left at the top of the month and now, after so little time and so many adventures, they opened their home again.
Of course, it’s no longer just their home. It took me about five minutes into our catch-up conversation in the car to realize that sitting on Chelsea’s lap was their new puppy, Mac Swirsky. Mac is an adorable little Goldador (Golden and Labrador mix), who passed the ride in a confused silence, obviously a little unused to the motion of a car. Dave and Chelsea caught me up on their new puppy parenthood, regaling me with tales of Mac’s usually boundless energy and tendency to become a poison ivy patient zero.
When we arrived back at their beautiful home in Grant Park, we all collapsed onto the floor between their living room and kitchen while Mac bopped back and forth between us. I told them bits of the drive that didn’t make the blog, expounding more about the fears creeping in and the plans I have to mitigate them. They gave wedding prep updates and answered my many questions about their first few weeks with the puppy. It was a nice chance to catch up with the two people I’d have had barely any time with at all, had 2014 gone to plan.
Mac showed signs of tiring and we all weren’t much better, so we called it a night, with me retiring to my familiar bedroom, complete with Ian towel.
Friday was bit of a bonus day before the wedding and I’d be spending Saturday and Sunday Outside The Perimeter, so I made the most of my ITP time. I spent a few hours at Hodgepodge coffee blogging out Wednesday of last week and enjoying a cold brew, then Uber’d up to Smokebelly Buckhead for a birthday lunch with folks from my old job. It was strange to plug back in with the group dynamic, especially with my overgrown hair, but it was nice to know that all the great people at Towers are keeping up with my travels and staying awesome themselves. I answered more questions than I asked and kept those I asked to vacations and outside-of-work stuff; I knew I’d absorb some stress if I heard too much shoptalk. Then again, lunches like that were always a chance for everyone to unplug.
I then Uber’d to Top Golf (having my second delightful Uber driver convo along the way), where I spent a few boozy hours with Dave and some of his MBA buddies. I begged off hitting any balls after a few rounds, feeling the torque on my knee and generally liking everything about the time there except for the moments when I was swinging. My sport was much more the side-discussion about the merits of Home Alone 2 compared to the original.
After Top Golf, Dave and I returned to the house, where we eventually accumulated Matt, Britt, and Chelsea after work. If the McSwirseas are the ones I benefited the most from in the extra year, I feel like the Fishels are the ones I could have used yet another year to hang with, so we’re doing our best to hang out when we can now. They’re both ridiculously supportive of this adventure and Britt in particular was kind of the first person to hear me muse about a creative avenue and immediately send me contacts that could help with that. Exactly the sort of “ok, so do it” energy with which I need to surround myself.
We spent the night out at Tomatillo’s in East Atlanta Village, where I paid homage to their Crack Empanadas and talked out some more of my plans and listened to the others discuss work and wedding prep. The Fishels had to peel off after dinner and drinks, but back at the house, Dave, Chelsea, and I had an impromptu 90s music singalong and then went down a YouTube rabbit hole before grudgingly ending the evening.
The next morning, we ate breakfast at the house and sat on the porch while Mac played in the yard. Their porch/yard setup seems like such a gem to find in the city and has been the site of many an informal summit about education, personal growth, and relationships with family. This time was no different, save the soft, little puppy running up and down the porch stairs in between points. I think the question that gave me the most pause was asking what values do we think our parents were trying to instill in us the most and evaluating their success. We all had hard work / educational success on our lists, but the other answers were scattered. My second was that I think Mom instilled in me the importance of being trustworthy and reliable, of doing what I said I would do. I also think that being voted Most Dependable speaks to the success. Nice work, Mom.
It was then time for them to drop me at MARTA, at the end of which I joined Hanley, also in town for the wedding. Alison and Zac picked us both up and we had a delicious lunch at Adele’s in Roswell while catching up about new jobs, wedding planning, and jobless wanderings.
After lunch, we went back to Ali and Zac’s to get ready for the wedding, with me returning to the guest room and bathroom they let me stay in during the first two months after the breakup last year. While we joked a lot about me being the son coming home to Mom and Dad, the return was more genuinely emotional than I expected. First of all, I will never forget the generosity they showed in taking me in when the winds blew the hardest; everything from the smell of their house to the pattern of the comforter in my room reminded me of that hospitality.
On the other hand, the familiarity felt so different from the wild novelty of the earlier part of the week. Waking up in that bed felt like traveling back in time or even like the intervening year had been only a dream. Though those concepts might sound scary or negative, it’s actually the energy of a place that feels like home. Time seems to stop and be all one at my mom’s place as well, which means that my time with Ali and Zac, coming when it did, made a pretty strong imprint.
Others began gathering at the house to carpool to the wedding. I elected to ride in the earlier car, since I had a reading to give, which put Seth, Kristen, Hanley, and myself on the road to Rutledge. During the ride, Hanley and Kristen discussed wedding ideas while Seth and I discussed Tahoe, with the conversations blending back and forth frequently. Once we arrived at the venue, Hard Labor Creek State Park, we aggregated with the other car (Alison, Zac, Joe, and Megan), as well as Kate and Willie, down from Greenville. The site itself was a ten-minute walk down the trail, at the end of which was the group shelter for the reception and rows of chairs facing the river for the ceremony. It was a wild and beautiful place to be married, vibrating with life. Jamie Threatt, one of Starla’s bridesmaids, came out to make sure I was on the aisle for my reading and I even had a quick tete-a-tete with the officiant to make sure I knew my timing.
The ceremony itself was beautiful and so perfect for Kate and Starla. The entrance music was live, sung and whistled beautifully by two guests I never had the chance to talk to. The bridesmaids looked lovely, the brides radiant. Having gotten out my emotions in reading the
Supreme Court excerpt at MARTA earlier, I gave my reading well and quickly squeezed Starla’s hand before settling back in my seat. Then, Kate and Starla spoke their vows, expressing their love in elegant, personal words that caused not a few tears. A few binding announcements later, they were married and there was much rejoicing.
Being so close, the reception came hard on the heels of the wedding. I got a quick plate of food in before getting on the dance floor as soon as possible, partying with the gang and avoiding another bout of dance floor fisticuffs with the bride. Of course, I felt ridiculously sweaty from the outset, but I was having a blast and I have long since realized there are some unwinnable battles. I’m not going to not dance. We made some new friends throughout the nice, taking conversations back out onto the lawn and trading our best Kate and Starla stories. Jamie and I slipped away for a bit to get the wedding license signed and secured, after which the evening quickly rolled to the end, with sparklers seeing the happy couple off into the night.
We took a portion of the party back to Alison and Zac’s, collapsing around their basement and chatting over beer, wine, and champagne. It's a great afterparty spot.
Finally, it was time for people to leave, while Ali and Hanley went to bed. Zac and I threw back to a year ago and stayed up late watching a movie, although we mainly KEPT watch over the movie, as we wound up watching in shifts while the other slept.
Sunday morning meant Hanley's departure to hang with family (after a nice lazy morning chat with Alison and me), followed by brunch at Crabapple Tavern and a stop to drop the Threatts' Leaf by their new place, which was magnificent yet familiar, as though all of the best parts of their old house took steroids. Shire was visiting as well, which was a bonus catch-up I definitely didn't expect, but appreciated since I did such a crappy job hanging out with him before I left. After the tour and a decent chunk of hangouts, we headed back to the LeVasseurs. Ali and Zac went off to a concert in town, while I hung back, ordered Chinese, and watched movies. With Monday would come a return to my wild ride, so it was nice to relax and regroup in a house that had allowed me to do the same over a year before.
At last, Monday came and found me riding with Zac into Atlanta, where I'd MARTA to the airport and hang out there until my 2:15pm flight. Zac andI chatted a bit, but also had some quiet moments. In addition to the early hour, I had so much to think about regarding the days ahead and had trouble putting it off. Once we got to Peachtree Center area, we said our goodbyes and I walked through the Hyatt towards the MARTA station. As I approached the revolving door to the street, I passed a man rolling a spinner bag and holding up a tall garment bag, inside of which was an unmistakeable Captain America costume. Dragon*Con was arriving and I was leaving, an understanding that broke the stopped-time trance of the weekend and left me with mixed feelings as I descended into the Peachtree Center MARTA.
All in all, a wonderful weekend spending time with friends, vacationing in my own past, and celebrating an adorable love. I'm so glad I was able to make it and so excited for what comes next.
To that end, I am now safely arrived in Tahoe (as of last night, Monday) and will write with my initial thoughts tomorrow perhaps. As a short trailer, it's stunning here, it's been a fun half-day or so with Erik so far, and this will be a good place from which to determine next steps.
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