Friday after work we worked together on some wedding playlist stuff. Getting together a more finalized flow of songs for dancing and overall partying is fun. I really hope we did well because I know I am not much of a dancer. We then went out for some delicious Brushfire BBQ and to pick up some photo prints of my grandfather at Walgreens. Then spent the night hanging with friends at Safehouse.
Saturday morning we prepared for a road trip to go up to Phoenix and see Kevin Smith with our good friends Derek and Michelle. Before the trip I met up with my father on our front porch to give him the prints of my grandfather for the funeral. My dad, of course, did the usual pre-road-trip reminders of oil change and tire checking and we were off. Stopped to pick up Derek’s Xbox controller from my brothers place and hit the freeway to phoenix later than we planned on but we still had a bit of time to get there and have some dinner with Derek and Michelle before the show.
After getting on the freeway I thought out loud how I really should have checked my tires. A couple exits after passing Casa Grande that jinx set in. The tread on my driver side front tire flew completely off at about 80 miles an hour. I was lucky enough to be able to pull off to the side on an exit off the free way. I put on a full size spare tire then called Derek to let him know about the tire situation and delay while the nerves still wore off from the rush. Then, when I started my car and tried to take off the new tire would not turn at all. Turns out I had a spare an inch too small to put on the front of my car and it got stuck really good on there. This resulted in a rather complicated tow down to a tire place in Casa Grande.
Derek, being an awesome friend, drove down and picked us up from there so we could make the show on time. The show was an amazing 3 and a half hours of funny stories which is now a very fond memory. I was especially glad to see it with Derek since being fans of Kevin Smith was one thing we really had in common when starting our friendship in the late 90’s. I can’t stop thinking about that show and how great it was. I really wish I could get a recording of it some day though I didn’t really see that much filming.
After the show we caught a nice late dinner with Derek and Michelle. Derek then took us to Autumn’s folks house where we were greeted by their dogs and yet some more awesome wedding gifts. Autumn’s mom gave us a ride out to Casa Grande where I picked up my car and got on our way back to Tucson which was filled with even more delays. We wound up arriving to my Grandfather’s funeral 30 minutes late. I managed to be there for the end of the service but I missed some of my families stories about him which I will regret forever. I will be able to hear more memories about him in the years to come though and I of course have my own. Still feel really bad about it though.
The reception after his funeral was nice. I got to see some cousins and other relatives I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was really nice to see all of them but I with it was all under better circumstances. I will really miss my grandfather, I was really looking forward to seeing his smile again at our wedding next weekend. Unfortunately, fate decided differently and I hope his rest is peaceful.
It is surreal having to still plan a wedding after attending a funeral. I have been working some more on reception playlists here at Safehouse. Taking a break from that to write about my experience this weekend. Just wanted to have the details written down. Well I am off to go work on those playlists some more.
Thanks for reading,
-Ray
