"...what used to be is no longer important to me; it's all about family..."

I am back from Pittsburgh.

Now, I have to say that yes, I did miss the Red River Shootout. The ABC affiliate there was showing West Virginia vs Rutgers. What was that all about? So throughout the day I was receiving texts updates on the score from Tayo, Kuli and Ebun.

Ah, Ebun...yeah, early Friday afternoon Ebun called from Sactown and said that he had missed his flight and was on standby for the next available flight. Then he calls me about 4 AM while I'm asleep in Pittsburgh and said that he hadn't been able to secure a seat on that flight either and was not going to be able to come to the wedding. And I'm thinking, "Ah ha! The old "accidently"-miss-my-flight-so-that-I-have-an-excuse-to-miss-my-
friend's-wedding-and-stay-home-and-watch-the-Red-River-Shootout trick! I invented that trick! Why didn't I think of that?"

However...if there was a reason to miss the game, this was as good as it could have been.

I arrived Friday night and didn't really do much other than find out where I was staying. Actually, I kinda crashed Tobi's ladies only get-together and as soon as I showed up people started finding reasons to leave. Eh, well. Whatever. Anyway, I was staying in this suite in Tobi's apartment building and I have to admit it was a rather nice place to stay. Only thing was that it looked like it had originally been designed in the 70s, then maybe around 1987 someone decided to renovate but then just gave up. But it had a bed and I'm not picky.

Saturday morning I woke up with a mission. See, I had somehow forgotten to pack a dress shirt with my suit so I had to go buy one. And I figured, "Ok, I'm in downtown Pittsburgh, with approximately 33,000 universities built right on top of one another so there has to be a clothing store within walking distance, right? I mean, all these college students need some place to shop, right right?" So I set off walking to find a store. Of course, I was wrong. Within walking distance of the University of Pittsburgh (which is pretty much where I was staying) I could find plenty of pizza parlors, drug stores and laundromats. I could even find a freaking Porsche dealership and a BMW dealership, but apparently kids don't need clothing stores that close by (I was eventually directed to a Gap within driving distance by the very nice people who worked in the lobby of Tobi's building).

Now, while I was out I noticed a lot of people staring at me. Don't ask me why, because I never did figure it out. Ok, at first I was doing the whole southern thing where when you pass by someone you smile, nod your head and say, "Hello." The first few people I did that to either gave a startled "Hello" back or just quickened their step. Then I remembered that I wasn't in Texas anymore so I stopped doing that. But people kept staring at me. At one point I was walking down a street and this Italian guy on the other side of the street stared at me for about 30 seconds before yelling out, "Hey, how you doin', buddy?" So I just replied that I was fine and wished him well as well. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe people were staring at me because I was initiating the looks. I was looking everyone in the eye, which might be a big no no in the Steel City.

The wedding and reception were cool. Well, first it was cool for me to see everyone in Tobi's family in one place again. That hadn't happened for me since 2001. Uncle Sola can't help but be poignant and funny. Auntie Moji could NOT stop cheesing (and if ever a family should put a patent on smiles, it's this one). Ibie is brown, beautiful as ever and I'll be danged if Temi isn't a grown man (I remember summer 1991 when Ebun was nine and Temi seven and they were in the basement watching Friday the 13th when they weren't supposed to. I sneaked up on them with a screwdriver in my hand and screamed as loud as I could. Scared the bajeezus out of them).

And then there was Tobi and Sola. My goodness, but if you ever wanted to see joy personified, all you had to do was see the two of them on Saturday, October 8, 2005. It was like the joy was oozing out of their pores and you couldn't help but notice it. I overheard some people later on aluding to the fact that the reception wasn't quite "Nigerian" enough but I really liked it and I'm glad that Tobi and Sola did what they wanted. This was supposed to be their day so bugger what other people think they should have done. This was the best wedding I can recall seeing that was truly representative of what we are: Nigerian. American.

I was really excited during the whole wedding and reception (I even drank a whole glass of champagne, and you know how much I hate the taste of alcohol). I couldn't figure out why I was so happy until I was talking to If E on the plane back to Dallas. That's when I realized that Tobi is the first childhood friend that I've kept to adulthood to get married. Other weddings I've gone to or been a part of were either people I've met as an adult or friends of friends, that type of thing. But this was different, more special. We'll see how I feel next May, June and November.

Of course, I also started thinking about myself. And I realize that I'm looking forward to being married (well, it's a unique hybrid of anticipation and trepidation). I'm just not looking forward to getting married. Weddings are just too much wahala. But then you have some women who have been planning for that moment every day since they were seven years old, so I guess guys have to give in some time.

Oh, if it's important, Texas ended their losing streak to Oklahoma by winning 45-12. And Baylor beat Iowa State, which means we're probably just a third down conversion against Texas A&M away from being undefeated.

Oh, and I saw a commercial for an Amish website. What exactly do the Amish need with a website?


- Yo, Common's "remix" of "The Corners" with Scarface and Mos Def is dope.


TITLE TAKEN
LPG (Dax Reynosa); "Too Late"