A week or so ago, Cassie and I took a long trip to Clinton, MS.  One of my best friends, Chris Weaver, and his fiance (now wife) Shae were getting married. 




*Enjoying the air conditioning of our hotel suite*


The trip down was fairly uneventful.  I skipped out of work a little early on Friday.  That was actually a blessing, I've had a nasty project that was weighing me down pretty heavily.  Thankfully, it was far enough along to where I could delegate to some of my fearless co-workers.  It was not an easy task for them, as the project involved presenting new material that I have been developing to approximately 200 co-workers with only a days notice.  I owe them!

Once on the road, we passed through all parts in-between Birmingham and Jackson, MS.  This part was pretty much a blur, because there isn't a lot to notice.  You pass a few small exits in Tuscaloosa, then you see some Magnolia trees and the Mississippi sign, and finally you are in the middle of Jackson.  It's kind of peaceful, but at the same time, annoying for one with ADHD-tendencies such as myself. 

We arrived at our hotel, and quickly changed for the rehearsal and dinner.  Chris and Shae got married in a newly renovated historical home near Mississippi College.  It had a wonderful and charming silver-colored tin-room, which added the Southern charm of a Grecian-inspired columns in the forayer with a classical double staircase.  The house had a second floor added a few weeks earlier, and was remodeled to support a kitchen and restaurant. 

Once we went through the rehearsal, Cassie and I enjoyed the wonderful cuisine.  We dined on 3 types of pasta and fruits.  Knowing Chris, no party would be complete without a little beer and wine.  We enjoyed and celebrated with Chris and his family until it was finally time to ease on back to the hotel.

After a good night's rest, we decided to ease on down to the hotel breakfast.  I'm still not a huge fan of hotel breakfast.  I realize I'm not technically "paying for the food", but I still am.  Some part of the money I pay for rest, goes in to the food they serve me.  If you are planning on making rubber and butter-flavored eggs, maybe you could at least find an "egg-like spray" you could squirt on those eggs.  I'm not expecting Waffle House, just enough to trick my brain in to believing I'm really having food.

We decided to take a run to help Cassie keep compliance with her 100-day challenge.  I asked the young lady at the front desk for a recommended route.  I guess asking someone who is a little out of shape for a recommended running route should warrant slightly imperfect results, but I felt I'd trust the locals.  Thankfully, she was kind enough to point us towards a local trailer/RV park.  The course around this park rounded out close to a mile per lap to a mile and a quarter. 

I grew up in one of the more...rural areas of Alabama.  A place where most first dates were cut short when you began comparing family trees.  Alright that part was a lie...sometimes we went on a second date.    But I truly feel the culture of Blount County, has nothing on the people of the Great State of Mississippi.  Wall-mounted air conditioning duct taped to the side of a boot-knife cut hole on the side of 1965 mobile home which was held firmly in-place by its long-since deflated tires as it was the weeds that tugged at its half-torn skirting.  Women walking around with that shell-shocked dazed recovery from a night of hard-drinking at the success of whichever NASCAR racer carried home the purse.  However, there were a few notable exceptions to my crass stereotype. 

There was one lady with a really nice house, who was painting her porch.  There were also several hundred-thousand dollar RV's tied to new Hummers and F-250s.  For every person who was forced to live in these homes from poverty, there was one who lived there for luxury, or stored their excess there.  It really hit home just how close these two classes of people are to each other.  Yet you could tell which areas of the park were the long-term residents which little option for leaving, and those with short-term stays, until the next luxury pulled them elsewhere. 

After we rounded out our run, we had to head back to the wedding location.  In the 95 degree Mississippi heat, my fellow Groomsman, and the rest of the wedding party stood facing the sun in Tuxes and black dresses.  No, I was not in a black dress...but the thought crossed my mind towards the end of the wedding of how much better that situation would have been. 

After the wedding, we all ran inside to ditch our coats, eat some food, and finish off the beer.  Cassie and I danced and had a blast.  We got to know Mark and Amy (Chris' brother-in-law and sister), and several of their friends. 

After it was all said in done, we left Mississippi to return home.  This proved to be fairly difficult...

I wanted to hit the casinos.  Badly.  I figured it would be as easy as inset the address in the GPS, drive there, gamble, then profit?  Apparently, GPS technology...or Mississippi's roads aren't exactly that direct.  We ended up taking 6 different back roads from Clinton to Philadelphia.  The route was supposedly the quickest way there, but after many hours, I was nervous we had crossed in to Alabama and didn't notice it. 

After we finally got there, we hit the slots.  I rushed quickly to make some money with the high-dollar games, and quickly moved on to the penny slots.  Cas, always the practical of us, played the nickle and penny slots, and had more consistent fun.  This was proven when after we split our gambling money, I ended up asking for more money from her an hour later.

When we finally packed it in, we had a bite to eat and headed back to the car.  After another hour or so of back roads and suicidal birds, we found our way back to the house. 

It was a crazy weekend, to say the least.  Chris is one of my best friends and closest fraternity brothers, and I truly felt honored to get to represent all of our mutual friends who were unable to attend the wedding and be apart of his and Shae's day.  Cassie was such a trooper and made sure I didn't screw anything up or forget anything, and as always, I'm forever grateful for such a wonderful wife who is so caring and loving.  &let;-no she didn't write this

I apologize for the lack of pictures, the entire event was so crazy, we weren't able to snap a lot of pictures.