One of the things in this world that I emotionally struggle with is the fact that I have not attended weddings that I wanted to. From 2002 to the present, I have missed many of my good friends weddings. This is primarily due to the fact that I am between blessings. The finances did not always agree with my hearts desire to attend. Money was so tight at one point, I could not even buy gifts for my friends. The past 2 years have improved greatly, but the authorities at dental school make it difficult to make plans or even take time off. It is hard to explain since many people do not experience this curriculum, but basically for every day off, you fall behind 4 days. Additionally, going into each school year, my complete schedule is not even known until a day or two before. This of course only accounts for the classes that they plan for. There are a multitude of accessory classes that they add with a few days notice if I am lucky.
Over the past 5 years, I have attended 3 weddings, not including my own, and missed about 10. Of the ten I missed, Kenta's probably hurt the most. Although, it was my proximity to California being the reason verses finances in this instance. I was traveling Europe at the time and just could not make it. This was the only exception. I also missed my cousins wedding, Chad's, Doug's, and many others. All of their weddings were at a time I was truly between blessings. I did not have a full time job and I was in the process of attending CC while applying to dental schools. I was hustling selling imported sneakers on eBay just to survive. Indeed, this was a time of personal sacrifice. However, it hurt me to say I could not accept their invitation. I would have thoroughly enjoyed to share their precious day with them. I pray they understood the reason why I could not make it. Although, I do have a feeling that my cousin has not forgiven me.
This past February, I did not make Katie and Noah's wedding. This one hurt just as much as missing Kenta's. All of my good friends were planning on attending and they even attended my wedding. However, I could not take the time off away from school and miss the most important class of my curriculum to date. Also, I could not afford the trip to Mexico for 3 days. i just could not throw down 1/3 of my loan check. I still owe them a gift, but that will not come until August or September when my student loan refund placed in my bank.
Now, Reyes is getting married. I am trying all that I can to make the wedding. I am waiting for my school schedule and in the meantime trying to manage my finances properly. The issue with attending this wedding is the fact that it is on a Friday in October. This pretty much makes it impossible for me to make it because I would have to miss 2 days of school. This is pretty much impossible to do. With this fact, my focus is on the bachelor party. This is during my off month, but the issue with bachelor parties are the price tag that comes with it. It will cost me about $400 to fly out, $300 for a room for 3 days, and about $500 of entertainment expenses. All my boys are ballers. They throw down cash because they simply can without feeling it in their pockets. They are big shot stock brokers, CEOs of there own companies, Ad execs, and corporate moguls. I will be there in 2 years, but I am not there now. Because of this, I cannot afford a $1200 weekend. I will have to find a way to get around this. This pains me more than anyone could even know. If I were still a working man, my hotel would already be booked for both dates. There will be no questions asked.
My hearts desire conflicts with my current situation. As I am between blessings right now, I hope that once this transition period ends, I can reappear and do what my heart truly desires. With that being said, I command the unmarried friends to not get married until summer 2009. I am not worried about Neal or Kenny. I am more worried about Mark, Bart, and Slaven. I command you three to not do it. If you need me to talk to your woman, then I will do so.
With love,
You know who!
Comments (1)
Rest Assured - You're looking at about Summer 2019, so you have some time to save up. Slaven should be your first fear.
The problem with weddings is you have to pick the one or two a year you can afford to go to, particularly with all of them destination weddings. Weddings become cost-prohibitive at a certain point. I'm sure people can understand that, or at least they can expect I'll understand that when my wedding rolls around. The days of just going to the local banquet hall in your town our long gone. Every single wedding i've been to the past three years has cost me well over 1000 dollars. They all try to outdo each other. Between bachelor parties and weddings the past three years, I've basically spent all my savings, and incurred credit card debt. So therefore, I've had to pick and choose, and if people get upset, they are forgetting they aren't the only ones getting married that day/month/year. They are also forgetting that money is a limited resource. So feel free to say no to my wedding. No hard feelings. When my time comes, i'll have to work so hard to outdo everyone, it'll be in the jungles of Bolivia, catered by God.
Posted by workmonkey | June 26, 2007 10:38 AM
Posted on June 26, 2007 10:38