The Hangover

Call the time. It's 8:44pm on Monday, April 12th. While I am still nursing a slight cough and occasionally congested nose, this is physically the best I've felt since around Sunday, March 28 at 11:00pm. Yes, roughly 14 days, 21 hours, and 44 minutes after landing back in the U.S., I finally consider myself recovered from my bachelor party.

"Bachelor parties in the US often entail the mass consumption of alcohol, the hiring of a stripper and general rowdiness toward which the bride might not have a positive reaction."

- Bachelor Party via Wikipedia

I blame my sickness on a perfect storm of conditions -- from that Sunday to Monday night I traveled through four different airports in an already weakened and tired state and ended up sleeping in my hotel room with the air conditioner on full blast. Genius. Cue the foggy head, phlegmy coughs, and congested nose.

But regardless of the aftermath I'll always look back fondly on those bible study sessions that took place in Vancouver that quiet Spring weekend in March of 2010. People nowadays often use the word "epic" to describe things. I may only have an innocent Catholic upbringing but I'm confident in saying you don't know what epic is, son.

Obviously, as retreats go there is a level of confidentiality that I am unable to break. And to be honest, it's all kind of a blur to me. But beyond the fun activities throughout the weekend, I will say that what made me happiest was having my closest family and friends there all having fun.

I'll dive into describing the groomsmen in another blog, but among the other party participants were the guys I hope to always call friends, the cousins I grew up admiring, the cousins I'd stay up until dawn playing video games with, the friends I first drank with, the family and friends I first made stupid decisions with... the list goes on but these are the family and friends I'll remain loyal to and really appreciate them taking the time to celebrate with me this next step I'm taking.

If you expected more details on the actual happenings of the bachelor party, I'm sorry. But to give you some context on what we were working with, here's the penthouse that my groomsmen and party guests hooked up -- all 3600+ square feet, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, and 3 separate balconies of it.

Use your imagination.