Milly was up around, I don’t know, 7 or so this morning?  She wandered into the room Amanda and I sleep in then went downstairs and entertained herself or was entertained.  Amanda got up around 8 I think and I got up closer to 9.

We mostly just hung out for the morning after eating a breakfast of eggs and biscuits.  Mom went hunting in Virginia today (a fox hunt, which is more riding horses than hunting).  I put Milly down for her nap then Amanda and Erin played Just Dance while my dad and I went for a walk.  While we were doing that we saw Don, Dad’s friend, coming down his driveway with a pickup full of wood that he had just chainsawed.  Dad mentioned an oak tree that he’s seen for a while that had fallen down just up the road a bit.  Don looked pretty gassed, so Dad and I helped cut up the oak and load it in his truck.  My dad and I had a good walk and talked about all sorts of things.

Amanda was upstairs finishing up a shower and Milly was playing Just Dance with her Auntie Rin when we got back.  I got ready myself after a little while and Amanda and I left for Robert and Carolyn’s wedding at about 3.  Or was it 3:30?  Anyway, her cousin was getting married in Raleigh and we stopped by Target on the way for her to get some tights, since it was a bit cold outside and she was wearing a short dress.

I was wearing gray pants, a white shirt with a cardigan over it along with my bowtie.  While I was waiting for Amanda to try on a pair of black tights and a pair of white tights, a guy complimented me on the bowtie and said he’d recently learned how to tie one and that it was good to see other guys rocking it.  He was the first of several people to ask if I’d tied it myself, which I hadn’t, so I now feel I should get a real one.

Robert and Carolyn got married at a little old chapel on South East Street.  Amanda’s parents, along with Michael and Jenn, who had ridden with them, were there when we got there.  The Pickens crew, Ona, Peter, Stanton, his girlfriend Sarah, and William, got there not too long after Amanda and I did.

The ceremony wasn’t too long or anything and the reception was just a few blocks away.  We spent most of our time in a Mercer-Pickens bubble, hanging out a lot with Michael, Jenn, Stan, Will and Sarah.  We all had a good time.

Amanda’s immediate family were the first to go.  I walked with Phil back to the parking garage, which was half a block down, one block over and another half a block down.  Not far at all.  Ona and Peter left a little after that, but the rest of us stuck around until the end.

I let Amanda hang out with them while I went to get the car and we ended up giving Stanton and Sarah a ride to the hotel where they were staying.  It wasn’t far either and Will had started walking when I left.  Stanton told us to go visit them in London, which is where he’s staying for now while Sarah is studying over there.  I’d REALLY love to go…

The ride home was uneventful.  I had to text Erin to unlock the door because even though I do have keys to my parents’ house, I didn’t take them with me because I didn’t think I’d need them.  I got Milly up to go to the bathroom and talked to her for a minute.  When we left she told Amanda she looked beautiful, but when I asked how I looked she said she didn’t know.  But she also just said “bye” to Amanda whereas she gave me a hug and said she loved me.  When I put her back on the cot she was sleeping on in Erin’s room I asked her again how I looked and she smiled and said “Handsome.”  So that was nice.

There was apparently some pretty good basketball today while we were gone.  Syracuse beat Louisville (a future ACC rivalry?) by two, which means Duke should move back to #1 on Monday.  Then Butler beat Gonzaga on a buzzer beater.  I didn’t see it, obviously, but I heard it was just back and forth for the last couple minutes.  Carolina beat Maryland by ten though, which sucks.  They might actually be getting better.  Hopefully not though.

Zach Dotsey