Time with friends old and new and other random thoughts.

I'm in Atlanta this weekend.

The main purpose of the trip was the wedding of my friend Jason earlier today. I've known Jason since my freshman year at Tech. We first met through a newsgroup (like a forum site, only before there were forum sites) for a freshman psych class and have been friends ever since. At one point, Jason checked on the word count of the emails we had traded back and forth over the previous years and we were approaching a couple of time the size of the King James Bible...and that was years ago. When Jason and I met, he was on track to become a Catholic priest. So, there wasn't even a question of us ever dating. By the time he decided that the priesthood was not for him, we were very good friends and had realized that differences in religion (him being very Catholic, me being very Protestant. Kinda like Ireland, only without the cool accents or bombs and such) would keep us from ever dating. So, there's never been that guy/girl weirdness. We're just friends and are both cool with that. Being at the wedding this afternoon was very cool. Seeing Jason smile as he waited for Sandra to walk down the aisle was very cool. And then watching the way that he looked at and interacted with her throughout the ceremony and through the reception was wonderful. So great to see a good friend so in love (and so ready for the stress of wedding planning to be over and done). I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with the happy couple come Christmas time, after their life has settled down a little bit.

Also at the wedding, I got to see some friends from Tech. Mostly it was friends from WCF (Presbyterian (PCUSA) student ministry on campus). But there were also a few guys that I knew from Jason's fraternity or other times that we had spent together since graduation. So, it was neat to get to chat and catch up with them. Oh, and the cake was good too. Lemony, which was a nice surprise.

After the wedding, I had dinner with Reagan, my roommate from Space Camp. I enjoyed the chance to catch up with her and hear about her many adventures that she's been on this summer (Space Camp was just one) as well as what she has planned for the upcoming months. I joked as I was leaving that I looked forward to hearing more these adventures and living vicariously through them, especially since she's going to be doing some of the stuff that I've wanted to do for a long time (watching a Space Shuttle launch live from The Cape, swiming with dolphins, more scuba diving (in the real ocean this time), etc).

And I got to start the day watching my nephews play soccer. That's always fun. Devin's team of four year olds is great fun to watch. The coaches must have the patience of saints, cause it looks like just getting the kids to run in the right direction without falling down is a major challenge. Jason, who is seven, is on a team with more skill. But the boys seem to not always have the easiest time focusing on just one thing (playing the game) and, especially before and after games and during half-time or other breaks, can often be seen running and skipping seemingly aimlessly or otherwise randomly goofing off. Although I'm sure they've got some reason in mind. Might not make any sense to anyone other than a seven year old boy, but I'm sure there's a reason for their actions. It's so much fun to watch the kids out running about and enjoying just playing without a lot of pressure to win and be competitive. I think this is more the way that team sports are meant to be played. I don't think they even really keep score in this league. I know that there's a place for competitive play when the boys get older. But, for now, this seems to be working out well for everyone.

As I was driving back to my sister's place (I refer to it as home. But I refer to where ever I'm planning on sleeping that night as home a lot of times.) I got to thinking about what it would be like to live here. This thought comes to mind at least once just about every time I'm in this city. And I think about how easy it would be to live here. In many ways, it wouldn't be like starting over. I've got family and some very good friends here. I know the area reasonably well. And I even have some idea of the churches in the area. In a lot of ways, it would be very, very easy to relocate to Atlanta. Then I realize that moving here would mean leaving Fort Worth. And that would be the hard part. I enjoy my job. I've got some good friends. I love my church. Coming here would be easy. Leaving there would be hard. And, at least at this point, the hard is hard enough to make the easy not really an option. But, it is something that is on my mind. And, if, in the future, I do have to make a tough decision about my job, whether to find a new one or to leave Fort Worth, I think that I'll be adding in an additional option. And that will be moving here. It will complicate things to some extent. But, in the end, if I have to move somewhere, I'd rather it be here than anywhere else.

Now, if anyone back home (that would be Fort Worth) is reading this and getting freaked out that I'm planning on moving, know that that is not the case. A lot of this is just me rambling on about places that my mind tends to go on evening drives after spending time with friends. I have a standing procedure in my life that I don't make major life decisions without seriously considering the options for at least six months (if I can help it. Force me to make a decision faster than that and pretty much everyone around me will know, cause I'll be incredibly stressed about it, talk about it regularly, ask others for their opinions and pretty much be obsessed with the whole decision making process, to the extent that other areas of my life will suffer until the decision is made.). And I haven't even started that six month period yet. As usual, everything will look different in the harsh light of day (cold light of day? I can't remember the exact saying/quote.). And everything will look very different when that light is coming from a Texas sunrise. So, except for some vacations and work trips, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. No need to nail my feet to the ground or duct tape me to a flag pole or anything else similiarly extreme. At least not yet.