The craziness of the week continued as I zigzagged between RYLA and wedding things. I started my day with brunch and a meeting with Simone, my JC from last year. Her and I were working together on mental health addition to my mandated reporting training. We spent a few hours catching up and researching stats and preparing slides.

After we wrapped up, I walked to the other side of the coffee shop for a different meeting. This time I was getting to know Alek, the Junior Counselor counterpart to my Senior Counselor role this year. We had a great time getting to know each other discussing RYLA ambitions, college and life plans, hobbies and interests, and more. It’s always exciting to get to know your pairing and to see the ways you’ll compliment each other’s skills and talents and it’s clear to me that Alek will be a very strong match with me. I’m looking forward to supporting his work.

After my meetings, I rushed home to change clothes before Evan and I got to go to the groom’s dinner. This was a special addition to the wedding, a dinner for family members and the bridal party (and their plus ones) cooked by the groom. Scott is a chef and he prepared a stunning and delicious five course meal for all of us. It was also fun to play a few cheesy wedding games as we guessed information about the couple and got to know the other guests.

After dinner, Ang came shopping with Evan and I as I gathered a special gag gift for Jamie, the bride, a bag full of references to our silly little inside jokes over the years.

The next day, I was off and running bright and early to get my hair and makeup for the wedding. Much to the make-up artist’s surprise (and concern) I was doing my nails while waiting my turn for makeup. Once both of those things were done, we carpooled over to the hair salon where the stylist creatively navigated my undercut into a wedding appropriate bun. Marnie, the bride’s mom, brought all the bridesmaids A&W to munch on in the bridal suit before we washed up and got dressed. We got all the pictures wrapped up before the wedding which made the rest of the day feel a lot smoother and calmer. Then came the ceremony.

Seeing one of my best friends, practically my sister, who I’ve known for over 10 years walk down the aisle, had me crying almost harder than the groom. My glasses were smudgy with mascara tears which couldn’t be fixed because of the mostly tulle bridesmaid’s dress so I watched the ceremony around that but it was still so beautiful. After a delicious dinner and a night of sweet toasts and silly dancing, I headed home with work still to do. I refined my mental health presentation for the next day while so tired I could barely keep my eyes open but I went to sleep very proud of it.

RYLA training was the next day. Once I arrived, the day was nonstop from there. We reviewed the manual, practiced certain team activities, selected job placements for different activities, and, of course, I did my mandated reporting and mental health training alongside Simone. It all went well and everyone is excited and feeling ready for RYLA which is coming in just a few short weeks.

Today, I woke up to breakfast burritos my mom ordered.

picked Beau, Kai’s girlfriend, up from RYLA training and drove her to the airport. She’ll be competing in Speech and Debate nationals so she had to leave early to head out. It was fun to get to connect with her about all things RYLA and the experience from her side. Afterwards, unfortunately I’d forgotten to pack a charger and my phone, with my map, died in Denver. I managed to use the broken charger port in the car to get enough charges in off and on burst to get a call to Kai who had to come and rescue me. Eventually both of us made it back home and we got to have our own conversations about RYLA and his perspectives. We ended the night with dinner with my family before catching Ang up on all our adventures while I wrote the post about it.

Also! Big shout-out to Evan and my family for all their help this week. They are truly my best and biggest supporters. Besides Kai rescuing me in the car, my parents fed me between all my events, helped keep me on schedule, and attended my best friend’s wedding with us. Evan was up early every day with me even when not going to things. Coffee and breakfast were always in hand and all notebooks, chargers, makeup bags, and other needed things were taken care of without even a request. I couldn’t do the things I do without all the support I have.