pennsylvania.

stephen and i ventured out of town this past weekend up to PA for a college friend's wedding. meg and i became good friends the end of my junior year when we both happened to take a blow-off intro to biotechnology class in towne. being different engineering majors and in different sororities, we had never really crossed paths until that point, but we quickly bonded when we realized just how alike we were. meaning, we were more often than not the exception to the rule in our various campus cliques and loved every minute of it!

she and her now husband, ryan, similarly braved the "impossible" long distance relationship for over 3 years. by the time i graduated in december 2004 and was ramping up to my own wedding, she was donning a gorgeous diamond ring. for the past 2 years, the distance only grew as she remained at penn to get her law degree and while he wrapped up his own in illinois. he's since graduated in may and moved to their posh rittenhouse apartment which they now call their newlywed home - i can't wait to see it at homecoming!

all this to say, it was very special to be able to see such a dedicated couple survive the wait and be able to celebrate their patience through a gorgeous wedding! now, meg is the epitome of all things classy so it was no surprise it was quite a classy affair...from the stunning estate to their first dance (the foxtrot!) and all the lemon drop martinis in between. but really it was their opening program quote that made the most lasting impression on me; it summed up the pair perfectly, and i've adopted it as my new favorite love poem - it's deep, true and just beautiful:

all the breath and the bloom of the year
in the bag of one bee:
all the wonder and wealth of the mine
in the heart of one gem:
in the core of one pearl
all the shade and shine of the sea:
breath and bloom, shade and shine,
--wonder, wealth, and--how far above them--
truth, that’s brighter than gem,
trust, that’s purer than pearl,--
brightest truth, purest trust in the universe,--all were for me
in the kiss of one girl.

--robert browning

oh, but that's not all folks. instead of heading straight back down the 95 corridor on sunday, we took the scenic drive west to hit up some serene pennsylvania countryside. after passing through amish country (yeah lancaster!) and a slew of outlet malls, we made it to carlisle, pa - home of the army war college. stephen's family lived here for a year during his freshman year in college as his dad went through commander training. over the past 5 years, stephen's spent a total of 8 months at the base for various wargames through his old job at booz allen. so it was quite the treat to FINALLY see this place i've only heard about. to be honest, there wasn't much too it - it's a quaint historic town just outside of the state capital, harrisburg, but it was a stop well worth it....especially getting to experience the famed fay's country kitchen breakfast!

after getting our fill, we continued south on route 15 that runs from north of pennsylvania, through maryland, into virginia and southward. this historic highway has been around for well over 200 years - in fact, we got married right off it at the oatlands plantation just south of leesburg. stephen, being all too familiar with the drive, pointed out all the landmarks as i tried to sneak in mini power naps before we reached our next destination.... gettysburg.

that's right, i've never been. so why not? after stopping the NPS visitor center, we picked up a driving map of the 2 hour course and went off to tour the infamous battleground where 50,000 americans died over a 3 day period. whew. and they talk about iraq being high in casualties! anyway, it was definitely educational and enlightening... it's just too bad steve's dad couldn't have joined us. we called him up halfway through our tour, and he was so jealous we went without him! being a retired army colonel and military historian, he could probably take a full week to teach the battle of gettysburg, explaining every tactical maneuver and offensive strategy in succinct detail. ha!

but it wasn't until we returning home sunday evening when stephen popped in the 4 hour movie (ugggh) - gettysburg - that i finally started to see the sites we saw come to life. westpoint generals fighting old commanding buddies on that rich pennsylvania soil. one for freedom of slavery and one for a way of life, resulting in a country divided, with the battle of gettysburg as the turning point in changing our country's history forever. it's pretty fascinating even if you aren't a civil war junkie. so thanks honey for the history lesson... makes me love the keystone state all the more - hurrah, hurrah penn-syl-van-i-a!