D2 was fortunate, like her father and sister, to make very close friends in college. There formed a foursome of girls who joined the AEPhi sorority the same year: D2, Ali, Ashley, and Catherine. Catherine and D2 were already friends since Middle School, but grew closer at UF. Ali was from Long Island, and Ashley from Boca.
They all lived in the sorority house their sophomore year, and for junior and senior years rented a house across the street. A savvy investor bought 3 houses, and painted them blue, yellow, and a creamsicle color. D2's posse rented the Yellow House, and lived there very happily for the second half of their undergraduate careers.
They soared academically, with D2 and Catherine invited to join Phi Beta Kappa as juniors, no mean feat. Ashley and D2 got Masters in Business degrees in a single year after their bachelors. Ali got a Masters in Child Life, and now works comforting sick kids at Mt. Sinai Children's Hospital in NYC, with her canine partner, the beautiful Professor. Catherine moved to Atlanta and tore up Emory Law -- graduating Law Review and scoring a job with a top Atlanta firm.
Most significantly, they all chose wonderful life partners. D2 met Jonathan at UF -- they married just over two years ago. Ali married Blake, a fellow Gator, in a wonderful wedding in the Bahamas, where everyone dived into the pool.
Catherine met Jacob, who was in Dental School at UF, after undergrad at UGA. We especially relate, since we both despise the Gator football team. He practices dentistry in Atlanta now -- and I was thrilled for him when the Bulldogs won the ring this year. Their wedding, which Wifey and I were privileged to attend, was at the Rusty Pelican on Key Biscayne, and was beautiful. It also had an ending we'll always remember: a gruesome single car accident, where a woman passenger was impaled on a medium sign, closed down the bridge for hours. We all were trapped there, and so walked back to the mainland in a true Miami carmageddon. Wifey couldn't walk far, and slept on a chair at the restaurant until 530 am, when the bridge reopened.
The rest of us Ubered to the Grove, and got rides from there. But Cath and Jacob are happily together in Atlanta. Oh year, Ali and Blake have a beautiful baby boy, too.
That left Ashley -- the final Yellowhouse bride. She's been dating Kyle for awhile -- also a Gator undergrad, with a law degree from Texas. He's an IP lawyer -- they also live in Atlanta. And this weekend, they're marrying in Austin.
D2, Ali, and Catherine are, of course, all bridesmaids. Wifey and I get to dog sit the enormous puppy over the weekend.
I'm so thrilled for all of them. My college and law school friends are still my brothers and sisters 4 decades on. I know these 4 yellowhouse ladies will be the same.
A picture popped up on FaceBook -- the 4 of them posing in front of a Gator statue, on graduation day. That seemed just a few years ago -- somehow it was 2014 -- 8 years. Caramba.
I've been hearing "Sunrise, Sunset" in my head a lot lately. Saturday Loni and Mike's tow headed little boy became a groom, too. Children grow older...
Wifey and I grunt a lot lately around the house -- creaky bones and joints. She's 4.5 years older than I am. We never forget our age. And yet, we met when we were 22 and 26. I was just starting grad school. And those decades seem to have flown by.
So here's to Ashley and Kyle. The final Yellowhouse, class of '14, wedding. Now I hope the other 3 get on with the business of babies, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment