Seeing a Blue Moon

On a roll, time to go solo...

Mojo and I enjoy finding thought-provoking topics, articles, quotes, pics, and the like.  Sometimes it's interesting where we find these ideas, the nooks and crannies of the world, the Internets, and the sometimes often alcohol-induced rants and raving from ourselves and our friends.  We both had a couple busy weeks leading up to and after the Dawg's wedding, so we haven't had a chance to touch base about this, so I'm flying solo here today.


Who in the world I would have thought I would have heard two such simple and, at least to me, thought provoking quotes in the aftermath (and yes, for those first few days after the wedding, I do mean aftermath) of the Dawg and Mrs. Dawg's wedding weekend.  Maybe it was the love in the air, maybe it was seeing all of our friends together in one place for the first time in a long time, maybe it was the booze... it was probably all that.  For whatever reason, these two statements got me thinking...

1.  Day after wedding, talking with the wife, wife says, "things are the same, but it's just different now."

We are happily married, so she's always right, but she was definitely right about this.  So many things in our life change... take this wedding.  We had two babies there, including my handsome-as-hell Godson, who I taught how to pick up women at a wedding (LB Note - stop doing these things in front of his mother until after the baptism.  Dummy.).  Two of our friends had to cut out early to relieve babysitters.  Some of our friends had work commitments and couldn't make the morning golf and lunch outing.  All of these things are different.

I LOVE YOU!!!

However, the most important things about our lives together have not changed.  I literally cannot add the total number of years of friendship I have with the crew that was there.  I have known Mojo and Beavis since I was 5 years old.  There's 64 years just between them.  Every time all of us see each other, whether it's me or Mojo coming home, or those guys getting together, the connection is so real you'd swear you could physically touch it.  I think even the bridesmaids that didn't know us were kinda stunned by it.  Every time I see my hero, I run for a hug.  Sober, drunk, whatever.  It happens.  Hell, this time he told me he was waiting for it, "bro, you've been so busy with the wedding didn't know when I was gonna see ya!"  Then we made plans to run a 5K together on July 4th, and tentative plans for me to cheer him and Mojo on at the Boston Marathon next year, since they both qualified, and assuming they both go (LB Note - Get... your... asses... there...).  I even got a place to crash with a new friend we made from the bachelor party and wedding.

Perfect example... Day after wedding.  Hungover.  Fah T. wisely bought like 6 huge bottles of Gatorade on the way to the hotel from lunch after golf.  The following text message occurs around 9am...

Lifesaver

Me - Bro, can you bring me that Gatorade?
Fah (literally 5 seconds later) - It's outside your door, I left it there last night.

We went to bed at like 230am, wasted, exhausted.  Through that haze of stupidity, his thought was to leave that outside our door.  We may have to leave early.  We may not have the time to call or text as much as we want.  We may go to bed earlier.  But you can't buy friendship like this.  And that will never change.

I think this crosses generations as well.  A lot gets made of the "millennials," the latest generation to hit adulthood.  Lots of stereotypes abound about them and, quite frankly, for every generation.  I can remember coming into adulthood and our generation being labeled lazy and lacking any sort of drive by the boomers (I fall right on the line of Gen X).  We aren't lazy by any means... we just don't want to spend our lives working.  Fah and I were talking about this awhile ago, with him telling a story about people at his job questioning why he doesn't work overtime.  Apparently, pretty much everyone at his job does this.  His response was essentially, "I love my job, and I love coming to work.  But I love spending time with my family, too.  I want to go home and build snow forts.  That matters more to me than work."

Same-sies here.  If I wanted to spend 4-5 nights and a weekend day out, I could make pretty mad bank.  My job requires me out 1-2 nights a week, minimum.  I wish it weren't that much.  If I could retire today, with the same financial situation we have now, I would.  That' doesn't make me lazy or unmotivated.  It means I value certain things more.  And the Millennials, who hate being called millennials, generally feel the same way.  Yes, they can be annoying and entitled (LB Note - I felt old writing that), but, having supervised and trained many of them, I can tell you they care about connections and relationships.  They just go about it in a different, sometimes frustrating, way.  Some perspective before we move on... this generation coming up, the teens, is the first that was raised with cell phones as mini computer.  They literally know no other way of life.  However, relationships will always be the most important part of life.

Something else that hasn't changed?  Fah and my wives Googled and found the only pizza joint delivering at the time of night we desperately needed them.  Holy crap was that clutch.  Fah tried to bribe the guys to move us up in line, but ultimately fell short, though not for lack of effort.  Something tells me we weren't the first crew to try and bribe those cats to move our order up in line.

Google Image search "cute"

One other funny thing that hasn't changed about our bride and groom... the Dawg and his lovely bride are pretty much on opposite schedules, in that she is normal and he goes to bed at like 4am.  Right as I went outside to get that Gatorade, Fah's out there with me, and the new Mrs. Dawg is out in the hallway, dressed adorably, totally done up, and ready to go.  The Dawg, not so much.  Cutest quote of the weekend came from her, right there...

Me and Fah - What the f**k are you doing up and dressed?
Her - I'm just so happy and excited I can't sleep.

Those two madly in love?  Yeah, that hasn't changed.  It's contagious.  On to the 2nd quote...

2.  The Dawg, the night after his wedding, the night of a rare blue moon, posted to Facebook, "once in a blue moon, you are able to spend the first full day of wedding bliss to reflect on family, friendship, and the future."

Wrong stock, idiot, we're being serious today

This reminded me of those big moments in our lives when we take stock, then reminded me of when our teams win titles.  Whether its the birth of a baby, a wedding, a baptism, a championship... they provide us with a moment to stop the chaos of every day life, pause, and take stock of ourselves.  When our teams win, we look back on all the time we spent cheering, hoping... the agonizing losses, the wins over rivals.  All the hard work and time, encapsulated in this one moment.  Weddings, babies... all that time put into the planning, the prep, the doctor's appointments, the f**king kick ass, never gonna forget 'em bachelor parties... maybe it's the type of work Mojo and I do, and, again, I didn't get a chance to consult him on this, so I know he'll comment or request to post if he has more to say.

Boom

Let me say it this way.  The wife and I have four weddings this year, the kids in one, me in the Dawg's.  Three couples' in our closest group of friends are having babies.  Those are just the major life events in our crew.  I spend my days with people who are lucky to have this happen a few times in their lives.  So, even though, as I told the matron of honor as we were exchanging messages after she shared a pic with me from the party bus, "I'm kinda sad it's over, but it was worth the long wait!"  I already know that the next "blue moon" is coming.  And every time it comes, it grounds me, humbles me, and makes me grateful for how blessed me, my family, and my friends are.  The Dawg's wedding reminded me of this again.  I will never forget how the Dawg looked when we were on our way to the church.  If you had to show someone what love and just unadulterated joy looked like, it was him.  That moment was his blue moon.  Here's hoping your lives are always full of blue moons.

Copyright:  The Dawg

Whew!  I don't know what it is, but these posts have been downright f**ing serious lately.  Maybe it is all these weddings.  We have another this weekend, ironically.  Can I just say how hot my wife looks when we go to these, by the way?  To quote my late grandfather, after meeting her, "what the hell is she doing with you?"  Anyways, we're gonna lighten this up and expand on my answer to Fah's question about the Tigers from over the wedding weekend, "What the hell is wrong with the Tigers?"  Just don't ask me when we're writing it.  Maybe Mojo will chime in on something in the meantime.  Who the hell knows.  We're busy getting drunk and texting about blue moons.  Rusted Root will provide the encore this week.  I'll be back in the D in a month.  Can't wait.  Hasta.