I’ve been extraordinarily lucky throughout the entirety of the pandemic thus far as I’ve remained healthy, safe, and employed—privileges countless folks across the world haven’t had. There are no words for how much devastation COVID has caused communities across the globe over the past two years, so I don’t take my rare good fortune for granted. I haven’t lost anyone or anything throughout this disastrous time, so I feel silly to even complain or mention missing pre-COVID life. The only real effect of COVID on my life is that I haven’t seen my Waco best friends in two years as Texas is much too far away to be traveling to. Because it’s somehow already been two trips around the sun since I was last reunited with Jonathan and Lo (I wrote about them in this post last year!), I wanted to remember some of my favorite memories from Texas when we were all together for Yonny and Urn’s wedding. When I booked my trip to Waco for January 2020, I was extremely depressed and lonely and I was originally going for a few days before the wedding. I had only just started working at my office two weeks before and I had no idea how much my life would change after. Obviously the main event of my trip was my duty to be one of Yonny’s groomspeople, but the rest of the 10 days were for me to reunite with as many people I love as possible (and I did!). Yonny, Lo, and I ate at our favorite cult compound that serves the most delicious homemade pies and ice cream on our usual 4 hour long lunch. We had multiple slices of pizza from Slow Rise, drank lots of drinks at a dive bar, and got our nails done together pre-wedding. I met up with one of my first Baylor friends, Wilson, and we ate the most delicious Mexican food in the world at the glorious El Crucero before Lo and I had to attend Yonny’s rehearsal and dinner (where I was the only person who asked to take home leftover Helberg’s BBQ). And although it was the main event, Yonny and Urn’s wedding was my favorite part of my memories from Texas because I got to see so many people I worked with and love all in one place. I’m so lucky Lo and her husband Jason (Japan) let me stay in my bedroom in their house for almost two weeks. I’ll be seeing Lo and Yonny in March and I can’t wait for our long overdue reunion!
