Flashback! The Eighth.

10/13/2004

well i have decided that since my weekend was horrible, yours MUST have been amazing because i don´t think God would smote us both at the same time.  please tell me all about your parents´ visit and withhold all apologies of boredom because you never bore me!  also, i just got your letter today and it made me SOOOOOOOOOO happy, so thank you!

i love you and can´t wait to hear about everything!

emily grace pyg boyd

10/13/2004

Hey Pyg,

:(  Sadness! Why was your weekend so horrible? Was this your trip to England?  Well - you are right, you must have sacrificed your own happiness to send some my way. But before i get into that, i realized something last night that i had to tell you!  So - i've told you how my boss is so super awesome and how i love working with her and everything?  Well - my house is getting fumigated, so she is letting me stay with her and last night when i came by - she was watching the Lakers game cause she's a super huge fan.  And it occurred to me that you two are so much alike!! Lakers, short hair, the way you communicate, all this stuff - i am not sure i can totally describe it, but it was trippy to realize! 

Anyways . . . This weekend.  Well, obviously, as you know, i was terrified, but Manny was pretty calm and relaxed up until the conversation itself.  We took them all over town [from Carp to Goleta] - walked a few beaches, drove around to several good look out sites, ate some great food, etc.  We took them out for a real nice meal sat. night after spending the whole day spoiling them in the wonderland that is Santa Barbara, and then afterwards, we picked up some longboards Cookie Monster, and brought it back to Manny's house.  After we had our dessert and Manny finished playing super host man, he settled down and explained our desires and asked for their blessing/permission/support. And my dad basically said that i hadn't waivered in declaring my love for Manny over the past year despite all our conversations and conflict, and that's something awfully important to making a marriage last. And it was clear that manny was my passion, and my dad doesn't want to stand in the way of my passion, so he gave his blessing.  It was swiftly followed with a "But . . . " because my mom is apparently busy this year, she has to do practicum hours for her masters, but she wants to be involved in the wedding, so my mom asked if i could put it off until next christmas.  I held my toungue and was quiet - trying to process and consider what she asked, but i was kinda like "i'm supposed to plan my wedding around your schooling? Ok, but isn't it my wedding?"  but i didn't say that, i just suggested other times that she and i would be able to get together over christmas and spring break to do parties and planning and all together, and my dad really chimed in and was really supportive of trying to find a way to make it work in my favor, so that was pretty cool - that was the only debate in the conversation, and we went from there to the internet to look at her schedules and determine the ideal dates - so - keep your calendar open for early june!  We even started looking online at a few things, like the mother of the bride's dress and a couple things - so i could show her this site where we'd be able to coordinate things online since we'll be trying to make decisions so far away from each other.  All the while, my dad and manny were joking around bonding as boys who didn't know how to have anything to do with wedding plans - and my dad was all jolly - it was so sweet!!  I really feel like manny and my dad got alot closer this weekend, and started to bond, and it was SO exciting to see that!  We checked out possible sites on Sunday - the one manny and i had our hearts set on wouldn't allow for dancing at the reception cause you can't have amplified sound - i'm really bummed about that, but we'll still be looking. It feels kinda weird to do all this cause we're not actually engaged yet, but we're kinda concerned about availabilities, so we want to nail a few things down before they disappear - cause june is only 8 months away - i always figured i'd have a year to do this!!  Yikes!  But i'd rather work hard and fast then put it off.  So that was all good and exciting and pretty overwhelming really - i mean, i was so scared and within 24 hours of asking, we were nailing down details - SO crazy!  But then Monday morning, my parents wanted me alone without manny - we took a walk on the beach and they told me all about how i was going to have to be a good wife and make sure manny did this and that and i got so upset that they couldn't just accept him as he is and be happy for us and proud of me, so we got in this huge fight, as always, but manny was there for the end of it cause we ate breakfast together, and he helped mediate and forced me to tell them i loved them as they left - and that did a lot of good to repair things and really start some healing, and so my dad sent "make up herbs" - instead of flowers, so i can plant them in my garden. And he and i have been emailing back and forth and are both trying to figure out how to love each other better. So everything is pretty good! Except for the amplified sound problem he he!  Thank you so much for caring and praying and asking!!  You are actually the first to get the actual story - i've given a thumbs up or two to some others, but this is the first official report! :)

I love you pyg! Fill me in on your weekend ok?

-zoe faith

10/14/2004

zoe zoe zoe!

thank you for honoring me by telling me so much about your weekend!  it was SO great to hear how your dad and manny have started to really get along and that your wedding is already in the works!  Aaaah!  I can´t wait for the day  that you call and tell me that you have a ring on your finger!  i can´t even express the joy and relief i felt at hearing how terrific your weekend went, even if there was a bit of tension towards the end of it.  also, you have to remember that the wedding is equally for the parents and the bride.  it seems like it should just be for the bride, but it´s your mom´s day too, so she is fully justified in wanting to be a big part of it (although she needs to be flexible too, which it sounds like she´s going to be).  weird!  i just referred to you as a bride!  do you think you´ll have the wedding in santa barbara?  what plans have you really pegged down so far?  i want to help in any way that i can when i get back...i´ll be your personal assistant/gofer.  

my weekend was terrible, but I think I will be better sometime soon.  I went to London and saw my ex, but it wasn´t the guy I knew because he´s changed so much and not for the good.  He and his friend only talked about drinking and how cool it is to be tipsy and everytime we went by a pub or any restaurant that advertised drinks, they´d stop and check it out.  At one point, he saw an advertisement for a cheap (well london´s version of cheap is still expensive) cocktail and he actually raised his arms in triumph and said "YEAAAAAAAH!"  See, it honestly wouldn´t bother me that they´re drinking so much, but then when he bragged about it and could only talk about that, it all seemed so ridiculously immature.  They kept asking me if I´d had good drinks or how much I drank or how often I went out drinking...if they had listened to me at all they would have heard me say "I don´t drink" the first time I said it and they could have avoided all the unnecessary questions.   Somehow they made me feel lame for not drinking, when technically they´re the ones who need alcohol to feel like they´re having fun when I´ve been having a blast without it (just think how much MORE fun I´d have had with a little buzz...) Also, remember when I said I thought he and that girl might hook up?  

His friend says this is a big possibility and that they flirt all the time and that my ex has told him he really enjoys flirting with her (who talks like that anyway)?!  In the past I would have cared, but really I found my ex´s actions

concerning drinking so repulsively immature that I can hardly imagine myself liking him at all.  OH, and then the kicker is that on saturday we had about 7 hours in which we could have hung out, but after about 3 hours he decided to take a nap and I never saw them again. Good riddance, they were making me feel awkward. other than all that, london was cold. my traveling group had some fun, but i can´t think of it right now because i´m tired (but eventually i´ll write a group email and that will only have the good happy stuff in it).  

and that´s about all.

i love you a lot, roomie! and i miss you!

emily pyg