I am still so sad I couldn't be at the wedding. From the pictures I've seen so far, there were a bazillion people there I would have loved to have seen. :(

If you really do want a heads up on the Harry Potter stuff, let me know. Otherwise I can say without major spoilage that book 4 was relatively light on the tragedy, and that every book from here on out will probably leave you needing Kleenex and a chance to calm down, for one reason or another.

I really wish you could have been there. It was shocking and wonderful to see Cliff, whom I hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in 20 years. He's now a prof at West Point (which I knew) and has kindly offered me a tour while I'm up there if our schedules mesh. I'd LOVE to see West Point from an insider's perspective. I think he's the one I'd gone longest without seeing since he completed his education abroad but it was such a great time catching up with everyone. Especially seeing Guppy and Kellie and their kids. Corwin is almost as tall as I am now! Randy is still the same, always smiling and laughing. Laura is still one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in my life and Brian is still himself. It's amazing how little people have changed in their essentials from how I remember them.

I've decided to dive into Book 5 sans-spoilers and see how upset it leaves me. I may be back to beg for details if it looks too death-filled.

The one consolation about missing the trip is that in the pictures it looked like most of the people there were people I wasn't as close to or knew as well. There were exceptions, obviously. And those exceptions are why I was disappointed. It sure would have been fun, though.

There was a woman in some of the pictures I saw who had BRIGHT pink hair. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't figure out who she was. Do you know?

TC. Her hair used to be blonde and long. You would have known Ben and Asya, I believe, though I didn't get to speak with them much. More sort of waving while waiting for the wedding to start.

I forget that you're a couple of years younger than I am so you wouldn't have even met Cliff. I overlapped him by only a year but I always liked him.

Okay, that explains why she looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place her. She's someone I had met a few times, but didn't know very well.

There were several people there that I knew. Ben was definitely one of the ones I was disappointed not to see. I never knew Asya very well, but it would have certainly been interesting to see her. It's always nice to see Andy, but I'll hopefully see him in New York again. I think I saw Brian Donnell in the photos, and I haven't seen him in over a decade. It would have been fun to see Randy, too. Seeing Guppy and Kellie would have been at least interesting, if nothing else. :) And, of course, I was looking forward to seeing you. :(

Ah, well. I had this funny feeling at one point this weekend that I wasn't SUPPOSED to make it to that wedding. Who knows.

You did see Brian, though his last name has changed; he and his wife chose a new family name when they got married. I know that Guppy has given some folks reason to dislike him but he has never been anything other than reasonably polite to me. I may be the only female he hasn't ever hit on, which I perversely find both annoying and gratifying. I think, though, they always assumed I bore them some sort of ill-will given that Bob and Guppy had issues. *shrug* I don't agree with them politically on much of anything, I'll admit, but I still consider them friends. Don't have a clue what they think about me, mind you, but I've always liked them in a perverse way. I do understand why others don't find them as tolerable.

Ben was always someone I knew tangentially; we shared a lot of friends but we never had a lot of discussions. My loss, I know. I am bummed about not better cornering Randy. Another person's whose politics disagree with mine but I've always liked him - he really is an ideal bridge teacher - and I really wanted to hear about teaching in the UAE during and after 9/11.

I'm sorry that you weren't there to see Matt married. I was ecstatic to see how happy he looked. I can't think of a better wish for my friends than happiness, love, and contentment and I can think of few people more deserving of it.

Oh, and and... (I just looked at some of the photos again). I would have LOVED to have seen Chuck, of course, and I've never met his daughter. And Andy S. and his new wife, whom I'd really been looking forward to meeting. And Marina was there. And Debbie...

*sigh* Okay, someone else I know in that group needs to get married.

He and T have TWO daughters. :) They're both adorable. I got to ask T about their youngest and she said she's well-behaved but not a good napper.

That's a bit of a problem, no? Who's left to get married?