Esther and I went to McDonald’s today, not something we normally do. Today is a special day, my last day of work at the College of William & Mary, so a special breakfast celebration was in order. This is also the first time we have been to McDonald’s since becoming vegetarian, figuring breakfast would be much more veg friendly than any burger. We step up to the counter, Cee Cee behind it, waiting to take our order. Esther offers her order first:

I’d like an Sausage Biscuit with Egg meal, please.

Why don’t you just order an egg biscuit?

Let me tell you, there is no egg biscuit on the menu. Everything on the breakfast board labeled one through ten has some form of meat on it.

Ok, I’ll have an Egg Biscuit

Now I get ready to order.

I’d like an Egg McMuffin with no meat

*Laughs* Why don’t you just get an egg biscuit?

I don’t want a biscuit, I want an English muffin.

Now I know that being a vegetarian is “weird”. I understand that I’m not the normal customer she runs into everyday, and I also know that I’m not at Burger King, where I can “have it my way”. But seriously?! You are going to mock and question my choice of breakfast sandwich. I said I want an Egg McMuffin with out the meat. Is it really that hard to punch into your register? I didn’t ask for the sense of disdain that came along with me giving my order. To top it off, Esther’s meal got downgraded to just the sandwich, with a side of ridicule.

Friday was my first run in with the law in a very long time. I got pulled over for speeding. 60 in a 45. I thought that the cop running with lights on was responding to another emergency, I started to pull over. When he pulled over too, I thought “Oh, crap…”. So I pulled out my license and registration, rolled down my window and turned off my car. For some reason I was really nervous, probably because I had never really been pulled over before.

“Sir, do you know why I’ve pulled you over?” “I was probably speeding officer.” I replied. “Do you know what the speed limit is on this road?” “I’m guessing it is around 45.” I gulp out. “Do you know how fast you were going.” Getting ready to sweat bullets, I answered: “Honestly, I do not know. I was not paying attention.”

Apparently, Fridays leaving from William and Mary causes me a little case of the lead foot. Who knew? I got off with a warning… but now I have to really watch my speed, when driving on the Colonial Parkway, the park rangers have my number. Should I be embarrassed that it was a park ranger that pulled me over and not a “real” cop?

Usually I have marked the passing of a year by Christmas, New Years, or my birthday. In a few years, I will mark the passing of a year by a different event, my father-in-law’s passing. It is very weird to mark a year by death, years are normally marked by happy times, but this 365 day cycle is a little different. I have learned a lot in the past year. I have found the strength to try and be more caring and gentle to my mother-in-law even though she drives me crazy. I have tried to take my 13 (soon to be 14) year old brother-in-law under my wing. Let me tell you, it is hard to be a strong male role model. I have learned that you only live once and that you should live with as few regrets as possible. John’s passing, showed me the importance of family, so much so, that Esther and I are planning on starting our own. It has also showed me how important work-home balance is. In a year I have started a left a job, started a new one and worked more than I ever have in my life. As the year is coming to a close, I have been reminded that work is only what we do, who we are is defined by a different set of goals. In the past year, I have taken up a new hobby, become interested in a hobby to share with my dad, grandfather and extended family, and I am finally learning to let go of things that have cluttered my life. I have seen my sister get married, which I am happy about, and my sister-in-law join the army, which I am very proud of. My sister-in-law also has gotten married, but I’m home John can work some divine intervention in that situation. It is a weird thing to mark a year by a death, it is inevitable and unfortunate, but as long as I can remember what John would have done, or how he would have reacted, I say that this was a year to learn.

I went to my sister-in-law’s going away party tonight. She’s leaving for the Army in the next couple of days and while I’m happy for her, I am concerned about some of the choices she is making. Those choices are neither here nor there, but the party setting is pertinent to this post. Being a male vegetarian is weird. Not from my end, I enjoy eating vegetables, not eating meat. That’s the point right? I’m at this party and there is no one manning the grill, hot dogs, brats and burgers. I know that the number of people coming is going to be many and without someone grilling now, a disaster is brewing. The hostess walks up, hugs me and then asks me to man the grill, finishing up what she had started. Dilemma: Does the vegetarian prepare the meat for the group or does the only guy there with grilling knowledge shirk his social duty? I ended up grilling all 40 burgers, 36 hot dogs and 24 brats in record time, but ended up having next to nothing to eat during the party. Such is the odd life of being a male vegetarian.

Okay, I thought I would get to post, but the hangover was pretty bad on Friday and Saturday, I was without wifi on Sunday / Monday and super busy yesterday. Now the wedding recap: Friday I went and got my hair cut with my dad. I went to the barber that he has been doing for years and it was funny how my dad is so oddly intimate with this guy. Telling him all about the wedding, a new boat he wants to buy, gardening. Oddly intimate. After getting cleaned up, Esther and I brought her mom and brother with the Paulson boys, to go and get a wedding present. I don’t know if my sister has had a chance to open her presents so it will remain a secret for a little while longer. We drove in to the heart of KC and checked into the hotel, which was nice, if not basic. As we were checking in, all of my cousins, aunts and uncles were milling around. It was great to see everyone. The great thing about a Benoit get-together is that we pick up like no time has passed. We start up conversations and just roll with the punches. Esther and I got dressed up for the rehearsal (my sister’s request, not my idea) and after running through the mechanics of getting married, we made our way over the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was a very fancy soirée. An open bar with hard drinks, very fancy plated dinner. I enjoyed a couple of mixed drinks and some great conversation with my grandmother, whom I was seated next. The great thing that she and I talked about, which I also shared with my Gramps, was that Esther and I are going to start our family in the next year. Yes, that means babies. After the official dinner broke up, we all went to Salon A at the hotel, which was setup as a hospitality room. Stocked with beer and snacks, it became the hangout room. Lots of great conversation, although, most of them were a little slurred, if you get what I mean. Some of you may know that I had sworn off alcohol. I have to had any to drink in about a year. Joanna and Esther asked that I imbibe a little, seeing as I was so much fun when I did. Needless to say, when one’s sister is getting married, you give her what she wants and you drink to cope with the fact that your sister is getting married. The party kept going on into the morning with the Benoit’s walking (read: stumbling) to the Quick Trip down the street to stock up on beer and liquor. After we made it back, I stopped by the new party spot, but faded quickly and made it up to our room. Saturday The big day! So what do the Benoit’s do? Go motorcycle shopping! My dad and rest of the men went to a motorcycle cycle shop and I think I found my motorcycle, the Triumph Scrambler. My dad ended up buy a bike (the make/model evades me) but before that most of the guys went and got a great greasy spoon breakfast from a restaurant down the street. After he did the hand shake, we headed back to the hotel to meet up for lunch, a great taco combo at Chipotle. I caught up with my cousin Jason, who is out in Hollywood, talking about movies and I even got slipped a … probably shouldn’t say, don’t want to get him in trouble. We kind of just hung out and then shortly after 4 started getting ready. Tux and dresses… it is always fun to play dress up. The ceremony was fabulous, my sister looked great and it was a very spiritual event. As a groomsman, I played a pretty prominent role in the wedding, walking my mom down the aisle and then walking down the aisle with my wife. Let me tell you, it is so much better when you are walking down the aisle after being married. Not that I’m knocking waiting up front, that’s fun too. My sister getting ready to kiss her husband… not eat him! The reception was fabulous. Held at the Kansas City Public Library, which was an amazing location. We partied on the roof and had a great dinner, with some excellent speeches and quite possibly the best cakes ever. It was comprised of lots of cupcakes, different flavors of cake and frosting, delicious! The reception went on and after the Bride and Groom left, the party really started. The Benoit’s closed down the library and went hog wild at the hotel. Let me tell you, when you have had a “little” bit to drink, cigars are great, when you are sobering up, your mouth tastes like garbage! Sunday My wife and I woke up as early as we could (after fading from the party around 5 a.m.) and then started driving her mom and brother down to my parents lake house. We had a great time once we got there… and this post has gone on for too long. So let me wrap up by saying. I am incredibly happy for my sister. I hope that she and her new husband find all the happiness that they are due. A final picture for the road. Ray (next to be married) and my brother-in-law Clayton, air-guitaring during Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’. I think it adequately captures the mood.

Thursday: The flight in to Atlanta was quick and our connection went smoothly. The second flight was not as smooth, we crossed a major front which made it a little bumpy, but we did get into Kansas City on time. My parents picked us up at the airport and then we went to pick up my dad and my tux. Unfortunately, my dad’s tux was not ready, so we will be driving back and forth to get things done. After a quick lunch, we came back to the Chez Benoit Senior. Hanging out was nice, talking, catching up and waiting for everyone to arrive for the evening’s informal gathering. My parents had about 30 people over to their house to start the wedding weekend off right. Good food, a little bit of adult beverages and great conversation with family and friends got everyone in the mood. I had a great time catching up with my uncles, aunts and cousins. It was also nice to meet all of Joanna and Matt’s friends. During the course of the evening, I had a chance to play with an iPhone. I learned that I was wise to pass on getting one right away. While it is very cool, I don’t think I could use it as a day to day device. It would make a good phone, but the close platform would make it difficult for me to maximize use of the device. Sorry about the tech interruption. Back to wedding stuff. So, last night was great, a lot of fun, a little stress and some planning. It is really hard to coordinate a wedding. I thought our wedding was hard to coordinate, but essentially everyone had to come to us to get information, here in Kansas City, everyone can do their own thing, which is kind of strange. Photos should come tonight, tomorrow morning at the latest.

Esther and I play this game from time to time. When we see a particularly masculine looking woman or a rather feminine looking man, we quickly ask the other “Mann oder Frau?”. The point of the game is not to poke fun at the target, but to try and determine their gender: Mann (German for Man) or Frau (German for woman)? We are getting ready to fly out to Kansas City for my sister’s wedding and airports are a great place to play. Any weird inside games that you play?

CNN has a story about titled “New 7 wonders of the world named“. While it is fascinating and the list certainly contains attractions that I think are wonders of the world, including Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China, it doesn’t really capture the things that I think are the true 7 wonders of the world.

1. the Internet - Duh!
2. Esther’s cooking - So good you could hardly believe that a single woman could make all of it
3. Apple Inc. design - Simply put, they designed their way into wonder status
4. Quicksilver - the best launcher out there
5. David Allen’s Getting Things Done - The only way to organize your life.
6. Battlestar Galactica - The best sci fi ever!
7. Pitt State ‘01-’02 housing t-shirt

Thoughts?

I am going to post more. This past week has been good, I was a little stressed at work this week. The boss set a meeting on my calendar and didn’t really let me know what it was about except for a vague list. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought, but the morning before I was really anxious, I don’t know why, but I was. Anyway, I have been bitten by the golf bug. I went to the driving range with Clayton this afternoon and we hit a jumbo bucket of balls. It was a good time. I found how to correct for my slice (a ball that curves to the right), but it’s really hard to get it right and the posture is a little uncomfortable. Next time I got out golfing I’ll take the camera. Tonight we are going over to our friends new houses. I will bring the camera, maybe a video or two!

Yesterday was my last day at CNU. It was busy, it was strange, it was oddly liberating. I had a crud load of work to get done before I was officially gone. I had to get my check out sheet signed, have my exit interview, go to another farewell lunch (not mine, another co-worker), and that was all before I actually got to work. When I arrived, I had several people wanting me to get last minute edits made. Ugh, that was trying. I really wanted to tell those people what was in my mind, unfortunately, those comments are not something I want my mother reading (Hi Mom!). I spent most of the afternoon wandering around the campus trying to say goodbye to everyone that I have worked with in the past, but I soon realized that I would have to spend a couple of days to really reach everyone, and frankly I didn’t want to spend a few days doing that, that would have meant more time than I could have spent. Sorry if I didn’t get around to you. So today, I went around to Human Resources at my new job and I have my new id card, parking pass and all the paperwork to show that I am gainfully employed. It was a busy day, time with human resources, finishing chores and then finally catching a flight to Kansas City. The flight wasn’t direct, it was through Atlanta, but both flights were smooth and I think it finally time to retire for the evening.

Any comments or views about Christopher Newport University are purely my own and do not represent the thoughts or sentiments of the administration, staff, faculty or students of CNU.