so this is the ending to one of the best weekends i have had in a long time. its sunday, so i can't stop humming a familiar grateful dead song, and its the day after my sister, allie's wedding, so i can't stop replaying the evening over and over in my mind. girl can throw a party, there is no doubt about it. in few words, the wedding was fabulous. allow me to lay out the scene. two windy dirt roads led us to the little Sleepy Hollow Inn in Huntington, Vermont on January 27th; a super small, family owned inn surrounded by cross country skiing/mountain biking trails (which may open up the possibility of a summer time visit for me!), and accompanied by a beautiful round barn with huge windows that frame the view of Camel's Hump, the mountain that we all scurried up as little ones, when our feet were growing so fast that we got a new pair of hiking boots every year. there was an intermittent dusting of snow (which sounds really romantic, and maybe it was more like random patches of ice), and intermittent snow flurries (not to mention the night of rain) to boot. the bridal party- which included bride, groom, moms, dads, groomsmen, bridesmaids, dates, wives, girlfriends, and more stuffed ourselves into the little inn, all the folk who went stag slept three to a room and the couples were assigned little cozy love nests. the weekend started off with a night of karaoke, and new fun fact about megan-i apparently really love karaoke. After witnessing a completely out of tune "sweet caroline" and belting out janis joplin's "piece of my heart" and consuming what seemed to be about 25 glasses (they were very small) of wine, we concluded the evening gathered around an ipod and speakers talking about modern timeless music, and what its like to love to sing and not care what people think.
the next day was THE day. the day allie has been waiting for, and the day her older sister has been patiently awaiting amid curiosity, excitement and quarter-life-crisis moments. for lack of a better adjective, and because my head is still swimming in tequila, the day was beautiful; the picturesque round barn was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, the ceremony was beautiful, and all the attendees were beautiful too. and not only was the wedding chock-full of dancing, laughs, and a very short, lacking in passion, and mildly abusive love affair with milagro tequila, it was also a really beautiful reminder. a beautiful reminder of where i come from. i came from that day. i come from the people who showed up and have always been, and will continue to be witnesses of the lives of the campbell girls. i come from witty sarcastic dry and hilarious comments, from sweet libations in the middle of winter time, and from the lack of shame in what its like to belt it out and shake it on the dance floor. i come from countless winters in vermont, fireplaces and borrowing my mother's boots to go outside. i come from my three sisters. what a blessing. i come from an extended family that is mostly not related by blood, but by love and unquestionable bonds, and from hair tugs and finger traps from those who are related to me by blood. i feel most comfortable marching around in the cold in a flannel and ripped jeans, and i enjoy sleeping until at least 8 when its below 40 degrees outside. woodstoves are one of my favorite things in the world, and so are dads.
so i guess everything that i am getting to here, is a big fat thank you to allie and josh. thank you for creating and believing in magic. thank you for taking me back to my roots (somewhere along the way, i lost touch with them). thank you for introducing me to beautiful new family, and beautiful new friends, and creating a space where almost everyone we know and love could get together again and realize that we don't want to do this just once every 5 years because its too important. life is too short. most of all, thanks for believing in love, and having faith enough to take the risk. it gives me hope and brings me joy. you are both beautiful. and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a witness and a part of it all.
many many blessings to the bride and groom and all of the attendees! love you.
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