Wedding +61

For those that know me the slightest, it's clear that I'm not a morning person. You'd think that my best mates, who have known me for over 12 years would remember this simple fact, but no. This oversight was evident last Saturday when I was woken up at the ridiculous hour of 9.30 am (!) by the abrasive ring-tone of my cell phone. After one attempt at ignoring the excessively long ringing, I groggily fell out of bed to answer the second call. On the line was a drunken cohort of my aforementioned mates. My annoyance at having been deprived of precious sleep-in time quickly vanished once I realised who was on the line. In fact, I was grateful for their call since it meant that I hadn't been totally forgotten, as being in Boston had caused me to miss a huge event in our lives: my good friend Surfermate getting married to his girlfriend Jules. To them both, congratulations and best wishes!

As mentioned previously Surfermate is the first of our group to get hitched. By all accounts the wedding was a simple yet emotional ceremony. It was held somewhat casually on the beach in a manner true to Surfermates uncomplicated stance on life.

Obviously I was sad to have missed out on the wedding, but chatting to a bunch of my mates (despite the ungodly early hour) was a blast. Conversationally rotating through the spirited mob, I learned from GK that our gift and card were very well appreciated by the bride and groom. Surfermate requested no gifts, but we thought they deserved one anyway. Surfermate and bride were staying at a resort prior to the wedding and the gift was placed outside their room. A call from Reception instructed them to check outside their door, and bingo, instant surprise. The present and the sentiments in the card made quite an impression apparently, with tears shed and plenty of positive emotions all around. Thanks to the perpetual organizer and 'mother-hen' of our group, GK, for organizing everything (GK, you definitely need to come over here and sort out my tangled mess of a life).

Hearing an Aussie voice by a +61 call is always nice. Knowing it's your mates celebrating the happiness of one of the group? Not a bad wake up call at all.