Unexpected, understatement of the year

Life happens so unexpectedly sometimes.

A week ago, I posted a quick note on my friend L's facebook wall, basically congratulating her on her upcoming wedding and letting her know that I'd love to hang out the next time she's in New York for a weekend and NOT spending it getting married. On Thursday, my phone rang - it was L, calling to let me know that she had a couple last-minute cancellations and wondering if I would like to attend the wedding. On Saturday. Luckily, I was just planning on spending Saturday inside, resting from the week and getting ready for Sunday and Monday fun with friends. And I heart weddings.

So yesterday morning, I took the subway up to the Bronx to meet up with my friends that were in town for the wedding, and we all piled into the car and drove out to Long Island. The one hiccup was that I realized that The Ex would be there, so Thursday and Friday were spent desperately pulling out all my home-spa treatments... exfoliating, pedicure, manicure, etc... to make sure I looked AWESOME. And of course, when I got to the Bronx, I called my friend to have her let me in... Who opened the door, but The Ex. Not really the first face I wanted to see that day, but hey. It's been long enough to where I could be friendly, instead of ignoring him completely (months 2-16 post-breakup) or being cordial but a little chilly (months 16-24 post-breakup).

The wedding was beautiful, at this GORGEOUS country club where my friend H, as it turns out, had her senior prom. And the food was fantastic and there was an open bar of which we all availed ourselves heartily. There were a couple moments, like our friend W freaking out a little bit because maybe he still had some feelings for her (is there a wedding where that doesn't happen to at least one person?), and I had a moment of moroseness when they were doing all the mother-son/father-daughter/parents/grandparents dances, but I'll tell you that the alcohol helped a LOT. Didn't get drunk, mind you, but it took the edge off. I was even friendly-ish to The Ex's most recent ex-girlfriend, who did help matters by coming with her pre-The-Ex-and-now-current boyfriend, which did not please The Ex.

But I'll tell you, maybe it was the alcohol or just the general bon-ami of the atmosphere, but I honestly felt downright genuinely friendly toward The Ex. I looked at him a couple times and could remember why we were together all those years. Of course, I looked at him quite a few times and remembered why we broke up, but still. No hard feelings, not anymore, and that feels so fucking good. But now I know I can't split up the magazine family anymore - when I get married, The Ex will HAVE to be there - he can't not be. He's part of all of us whether we like it or not, so history be damned, we're all going to be together forever.

Then we all went to two of our friends' hotel room and got really trashed and played Truth Or Dare. Some things never change. :)