Something old, something new

One of my very good friends is getting married in October. She also happens to be my cousin, so I'm involved on a lot of levels. Not nearly as many as she is, but there's plenty to keep me busy on the day. She's kept all of us entertained watching her try to juggle the many balls involved in organising the day. Occasionally, she lets one slip, and nobody laughs harder than she does when it happens. Like when she called up one of the bridesmaids to come out on the first trip to try and find dresses. Catch was,she hadn't asked the girl to be her bridesmaid yet. My own invitation was similar; I wasn't so much asked as told I was going to be one. When we went for a dress fitting a few weeks back, it came out that I was supposed to know I was maid of honour. Apparently all the others knew, it had just slipped her mind to mention it to me. She's changed the date of the hen's night twice, without seeming to realise that she has. Only the crossings out in my diary mark the changes. But I can understand how it happens. Her life is a balancing beam, and she and her fiance walk a fine line between thenir families, trying to see each group of parents as much as the other, fit in time for each other, and plan a wedding on top of that. Right now, friends aren't high on the list, and we understand that. We're giving her a day away from wedding talk as a birthday present - massage, lunch, and a night out on the town with the girls, something we haven't done in an age with her. Only catch is, she's so busy that we've had to shcedule it across two nights in mid-August. Her birthday was in June.

Somehow, our worlds keep accelerating. I'm going away the week after her wedding. The last time I see her before I go will be at the airport at about 4am the day after her wedding as she takes off on her honeymoon. It makes me sad to think that by the time I come back, she'll be living the full married life, and I'm going to miss the easy coming and going we've had for our whole lives. We'll always be friends, but nothing will ever be the same after she moves in with her husband. It sounds jealous, I know, but its not (entirely). I wouldn't want her life. But at the same time, the changes that are coming are huge - the biggest either of us has faced so far, I think. That we'll be at opposite ends of the world will just add to the challenges. And, I'm thinking, the phone bill.