Family + Friends + Florida = Another Knot Tied

Stunning.

It seemed we bounced like ping pong balls from Arkansas back to our respective homes, and then to the Sunshine State to celebrate Bijan and Banafsheh's wedding. In the days between getting home from Arkansas and leaving for Tampa, we were all still feeling a bit googly-eyed and glazed over from all the excitement of the holidays. My mom & dad, and I were each at home long enough to do a few loads of laundry and throw our belongings back into suitcases before heading of to the airports.

<Insert usual ridiculous story about how long it took me to get to the airport from Altus> Long story short, I had a direct flight from Dallas to Tampa. Took me 3.5 hours to get to Dallas, 2 hours to get to Tampa.Yay!

When I arrived in Tampa, my parents were already there. They had flown in from Baltimore and arrived a couple of hours earlier. Just early enough to pick up our rental car and grab a bite to eat. Knowing me as they do and figuring I'd be frantically hungry by the time I arrived, they greeted me at the gate with a buffalo chicken wrap. I ate that thing in a matter of seconds, but will never forget how good it was.

Me & my Babak in St. Pete

We went straight from the airport to my amoo (uncle) Hossein's house. There, we spent a lazy afternoon on his porch enjoying the warm weather and the sun. My cousins were busy with last-minute wedding errands and "to-dos," but by the time dinner rolled around, everyone had congregated at Hossein's house. The party included: Three amoos (Hossein, Hassan, & Taghi), one aunt (Elaine), two cousins (Babak & Bijan the groom), the bride-to-be (Banafsheh), one couple who are good friends of the bride & groom (Milad & Nazi), mom, dad , and me! Hossein, after spending most of the afternoon in the kitchen, served a delicious Persian dinner complete with all of my favorite dishes! We had a great time hanging out together and were so pleased that Bijan and Banafsheh decided to spend the evening before their wedding day in our company.

On the day of the wedding, we spent most of the morning on the porch. We did this everyday we were there because Hossein's porch overlooks a beautiful pond with ducks and herons and various other waterfowl. The weather on that particular weekend in Tampa was perfect, so we happily watched the hours pass from that spot.

In the afternoon, my mom and I had hair appointments. Usually Gila is our personal hair stylist, but unfortunately she wasn't able to make it to Florida that weekend. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so mom and I called on the experts...or so we thought....

Thankfully sporting "hair dos" rather than "hair don'ts"

We ended up at a little salon near my uncle's house. The two women working in the salon both acted a little squirrely when we showed up, but we thought nothing of it. I sat in the chair first, and the poor girl worked on my up-do for well over an hour; verging on two. Somewhere near the 90th minute of tugging, struggling, and sighing, she admitted that she was told our appointment was for "two little girls getting their hair done for a birthday party" and that up-dos are not her thing. She would be, "happy to color my hair and put in some extensions, though!" Luckily, she was really sweet and I (consider myself to be) a very easy-going customer. With a lot of patience, some stylistic input from me, and a little encouragement, she eventually created a pretty nice hairdo. My mom's hair was a little less intimidating and she did a great job with it in a pretty short amount of time. Hair crisis averted, we went back to Hossein's to get ready for the wedding. 

Babak and me

Step aside Brangelina

A couple of contenders for "world's best uncle"

Dad & Amoo Hossein (ps, Babak made the centerpieces)

The wedding took place in the clubhouse (not a good word for it) in a beautiful Tampa neighborhood. The houses all around it were picturesque and ginormous, like pictures out of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. There were sculptures and fountains outside the building and beautiful archways, great rooms, and balconies inside. The ceremony took place in the presence of close family and friends only. The best ceremonies are those that are memorable. Those of us lucky enough to share in the experience will never forget how wonderful or sweet Bijan and Banafsheh's ceremony was. 

Moments after it ended, the rest of the guests began to arrive; somewhere between 50 and 60 in total. The party started with dancing (just how I like it)! It was a unique reception that mixed aspects of both Persian and American culture, with a twist on it all. I am not able to speak on anything that went on that night besides dancing as I think I only left the floor to eat dinner (which was delicious). It was such a celebratory and fun-filled night. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed a few times when thinking about how amazing it was that so much of my dad's family was in one room, in America. We had patiently waited so long for that exact moment. It was hard to be anything but thankful.

St. Petersburg

Some of the crew

On Sunday, we spent the day in St. Petersburg, FL. It is kind of an artsy fartsy little place with huge old trees and beautiful views of Tampa Bay. We walked along popping in and out of shops and galleries before making our way to the pier where we had lunch. The food was great and the view was beautiful. We were having a wonderful time except a few of us (myself included) had a little trouble staying calm in the presence of hundreds of descending sea gulls. In fact, one very aggressive bird even took it upon himself to steal a chip right out of my mom's fingers. I tell you, my mom and the animals, really not sure what's going on with that...

That night the whole crowd from the pre-wedding night got together again for dinner on Sunday. This time we went out for Italian food. We visited for so long that we closed the restaurant down. It was a great way to end the trip with all of us together again, one more time.

Babak and Momma in St. Pete

Monday morning made for one last relaxing morning on the porch. Bijan & Banafsheh came over for lunch. Hossein cooked some very yummy spaghetti (Persian style). We all stuffed ourselves silly one last time before it was time to say goodbye. Mom and I had flights home that afternoon and my dad stayed until Tuesday.

Trying to postpone goodbye for as long as possible, my mom and I indulged in classy top-shelf martinis at the TGI Friday's airport bar. After pushing it to the point that my mom was being paged for her flight, we went our separate ways, hopped on our planes, and headed for opposite sides of the country. Because I still had a three and a half hour drive when I got home and I was getting into Dallas close to 10, I stayed the night at my friend Shannon's house. Her mom surprised me with a visit, too, staying up way past her bedtime to say hello. Shannon and I proceeded to stay up way past her bedtime visiting, but we had a great time. Poor Shan had to go to work in the AM, but I (after being gifted with a spare key) was invited to sleep in until I could pull myself together to get on the road.

On Tuesday morning, I made my way home to Altus. As usual, it was wonderful to come home. I am so fortunate to have been able to take all of those trips and spend time with all of those people, but after almost a full month of bouncing around the country, I was happy to be back in A-town and back home with Eric. A prolonged stay in my sleepy town was just what the doctor ordered.