4 weddings: the aftermath

The cake crumbs have been swept up and the bunting has been bundled into the bin. Smudged bridesmaid dresses wait in the queue at the dry cleaner and uncollected wedding favours sit forlornly in a corner. Honeymoons and mini-moons have been embarked on and smiling photos put up on facebook. What will forever be known as The Summer of Weddings has come to a momentous yet rather anticlimactic ending.

And the humans? The humans have happy hearts and broken bodies. Predictably, the moment I stopped drinking I got sick (there’s something to be said for the constant intake of wine preventing all ailments). I suppose it’s also the residue of a 2 month-long hangover. But my spirit? My spirit is soaring. Let me explain.

I loved every single moment of these beautiful, soul-warming weddings with my best friends. However, I now have time…oh, so much time! Time to do things I have neglected for the past couple of months.

Time to DIY around the house – to clean out the shed and garage and throw things away (I can’t explain to you the level of internal happiness this gives me). Time to research recipes and go shopping for ingredients for my forthcoming bi-weekly vegan dinners. Time to pick up the random items – clips, flash drives,  odd socks – that have been sitting on top of the lounge speaker for weeks and find them a permanent home. Time to fold up and put away the really heavy blanket that takes the muscle power of a weightlifter to shove into the top cupboard. In short, time to do the kind of mundane shit that has you yawning right now thinking, and she wrote a whole bloody blog about this why?

My friends, I have time to whatever the flipping hell I want to, and it feels better than I ever imagined.

Here are 10 things I’ve learnt in the aftermath of The Summer Of Weddings.

1. 4 weddings in 6 weeks will sap your energy like you can’t believe. Genuinely to the point where you could not be assed to lift that damn blanket.
2. There is such a thing as too much wine. There, I said it. And will come back and delete this point in a few weeks, horrified by my own betrayal.
3. Friends are the best thing you can have in your lives, next to great family.
4. If you’re over 35, you need extra recovery time. This includes going to bed before 9pm for 4 nights, wondering when you got so old.
5. Your body won’t recognise healthy food for moment…until it does and then its joy is REAL.
6. If you are the parent of a small child, the child will underhandedly try to thwart your recovery by waking up at 3am and having a tantrum because you won’t let her watch ‘tubatubs’ aka Teletubbies. Because the goddam Teletubbies have gone to DUDU BECAUSE IT IS 3AM.
7. Gym is hard.
8. Netflix and chill achieves near-sacred status.
9. Your eyes sparkle when you stop drinking for a week (maybe helped by that sleep).
10. Mundane tasks make you momentarily happier than years of parties. Either this is legit or I am a total nerd.

They say happiness comes from within…I say it comes from endless days stretching in front of you, waiting to be filled with whatever you choose. That, and an ice cold glass of wine, because who am I kidding.