Honestly?

It’s weird to admit, knowing what I know now, but I kind of subconsciously thought that the wedding phase of Justin’s and my life was officially behind us. Without even realizing it was happening, we had fully submerged ourselves into the baby shower phase. If you’re in your early thirties or beyond, you likely know what I mean — that phase when all of your friends start drinking the Kool-Aid and suddenly the majority of your conversations revolve around nipple latching and mucus plugs rather than summer travel plans and recent favorite reads. Unless those reads were about nipple latching or mucus plugs.

Even as a child-free couple, Justin and I get that this is a natural transition, and we’ve mostly come to terms with the fact that our very best friends, Dirk and Alaina, are currently baking #3.

That’s Justin with their first. None of us had any idea of what we were getting into.

So basically I’d resigned myself to shopping from registries that sent me to terrifying places like Baby Gap and Toys R Us, completely mentally neglecting the fact that Justin’s two best friends were single and that between the two of us, we still have five unmarried siblings.

All of whom decided to get married at once, apparently.

Well. Justin’s youngest two are still biding their time, which is totally okay because frankly, I don’t think we can afford to attend another wedding until 2017. But that doesn’t mean I’m not extremely looking forward to the ones we have coming up.

We attended the first in Kansas City, Missouri this past weekend. Justin was the Best Man for one of his closest friends, Matt.

I didn’t bring my nice camera, which is a bit of a bummer photo-wise, but also really awesome because I was truly able to have fun and fully enjoy this amazing wedding. (P.S. When Justin and I got married, camera phones hadn’t even been invented yet. #oldschool)

I’d always mentally referred to Matt as “The Dawson” (who’s with me, fellow Dawson’s Creek freaks?) because he’s an extremely nice hopeful romantic film buff. I was worried he’d never find a woman who loved his quirky style, or worse, that he’d find someone who would use him for his generosity and not return the love. Yet while he did have to go through a fair share of heartache to get there, he couldn’t have found a more perfect match in his new wife Becca.

They even got married in a movie theater!

It was also cool because we were able to meet up with Justin’s parents, and he was reunited with some of his best buddies from high school.

I was actually there too.

I don’t normally take selfies, but I realized that there would be very little proof that I existed on the planet in recent years if I didn’t occasionally take a photo of myself. I’m usually the one holding the camera.

Photo booths help in that department as well:

That happy couple in the photos with Justin and me above are the next on the list. Justin’s in the other Matt’s wedding in Albany, New York at the end of October, which means we’ll officially be marrying off his other best friend!

Yes. I’ve waited thirteen years for some female camaraderie from those two goobers, and they decided to gift me with the lovely Becca and Mallory in the same month.

How lucky am I?

Next up are our dear and bestest foodie friends, Matt #3 (apparently Matt was a very popular name in the 80’s) and Danielle, who sent what is quite possibly the best save-the-date in the history of ever.

How could we turn that down?

Plus, it’s going to be Derby themed and the food (have I mentioned they’re our bestest foodie friends?) will likely be out of this world. (No pressure, guys. Although I reserve the right to return our gift if the food isn’t up to snuff.)

And look! More photographic evidence that I exist. (I’m in the middle — Danielle and Matt are on the right.) We visited them to celebrate a few weeks ago, and we can’t wait to celebrate again with them in May.

Another wedding we’re really looking forward to attending is Justin’s sister’s wedding in July in Astoria, Oregon. First off, we really love that part of the country, and second, we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with Becca and Brad over the years — we visited them when they lived in Spain, and we took a great trip with them from California to Oregon.

This is going to be another fantastic time with more fantastic people. Since we have to skip out on reuniting with his family for the holidays this year (five weddings gets expensive, yo), this will be a much-needed chance to see our niece and nephew and the rest of the gang.

And finally?

FINALLY.

Eight years ago I landed a job with a great company in Raleigh, North Carolina after enduring a 3-hour interview with a spider bite on my ass. The problem? I lived in Fayetteville, over an hour away. I spent about six months with that horrific commute before calling it quits and assuming that chapter of my life was over. But thanks to the help of social media, I did manage to stay in touch with my old boss, Jason, who always felt like more of a friend than a boss. Fast forward to the present day, and THE GUY JUST PROPOSED TO MY LITTLE SISTER. IN PRAGUE. ON HER BIRTHDAY.

Okay it wasn’t her birthday, but two out of three is pretty good. It was Kelly’s first trip to Europe, and it should probably just be her last, because I’m pretty sure this one will be tough to beat.

So. It turns my generation gets two wedding phases: The first wave were those who were crazy enough to jump the gun in our twenties while we were completely broke yet malleable in our ways and had no clue how to hold a relationship together long-term; and then the second wave is those in their thirties (or close) who are financially independent yet completely set in their ways and have no clue how to hold a relationship together long-term.

Sound about right?

Of course, I haven’t deluded myself into thinking that this next batch of weddings won’t be followed by another batch of babies. It tends to be the pattern of things. But it’s kind of a relief to realize it’s a pattern — that the chicken dances, electric slides, and worms of our youth aren’t gone forever.

Except maybe in Justin’s case. He tried the worm again this last weekend and it didn’t go quite as smoothly as it did six years ago.

Time to tighten up your game, Gard.

You have three weeks.