Sunday, June 04, 2006

The Bachelor Party that Almost Wasn't

My good pal Ryan is getting married soon, July 15th of this year. I am his Best Man, and with that honor comes the important responsibility of throwing a bachelor party. Ryan was in town for Memorial Day weekend and we had a good time, but there was a question about whether we would be able to have the party at all.

Initially, the plan was that Ryan and Liannea were going to start the drive on Friday with their dog, stay someplace in-between and finish the drive on Saturday, arriving sometime around noon or so. I planned accordingly, scheduling whirlyball for 4:00-5:00 and coming up with speculative plans for before and after.

Disaster struck, as the doggy got sick and had to be taken to the vet and boarded. Because of that, it was possible that they wouldn't start the drive until Saturday morning meaning that they would arrive sometime in the evening, well after the appointed whirlyball time slot I had available. After waiting around a while, I got a call from Ryan letting me know that they were going to fly out on Saturday and that they would be in some time around 3:30.

4:00 would still be cutting it too close, as 3:30 was just a guess at their arrival time, so I called the whirlyball place on Saturday at noon, as soon as they opened. I was able to easily change the time to 5:00; apparently whirlyball is not the first thing people think of when they are planning their Memorial day weekends (something about grilling or something...)

After whirlyballing, we went to a bar and played trivia and watched the Pistons lose to the Heat. Then, we went to Davey's house and played Texas Hold'em (just for chips, but still fun.)

The interesting thing was the old group re-assembled at the party - Jamie, Jason, David, Me, Ryan - were able to pick up with our relationships and conversations as though not a day had passed since we last got together like this. Heck, I hadn't even really chatted with Jason for a couple of years before I called him up inviting him to the party and we were having a blast with old jokes and new, the same as we ever did.

These are the times that I look back to fondly. For many people, college was the time they made lasting friendships; for me, high school is where I made almost all of the friendships that I hold most dear. I'll have to make more of an effort to see this people more regularly.

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