Diogo, Will & Katie. Photo / Supplied
To know where you're going you have to know where you've come from.
Said someone, sometime!
Not that I'm really one for the motivational quotes to get you through life, but every now and then something like that hits you on an idle Sunday when you're at a bar in Wellington at your sister's wedding party after a couple too many beers.
Then you wake up a smidge hungover and get even more emo about it!
It's kind of a weird feeling having two homes. If you're someone who grew up outside the Bay, there's always a little draw to the place you were originally from.
When I get on a plane back to Tauranga, or I'm driving back over the Kaimais towards the Bay, I always feel like I'm coming home now. But I also still have my oldest mates in Wellington, along with my parents, sister/brother-in-law and nephews. Wellington now serves as a place to get back to basics in my head, as well as exist in a work-free, family-orientated environment with the people who have known me the longest.
So my sister got married on Christmas Eve, I was her celebrant. Yeah, I married my sister.
You were thinking it. Let's move on! I was in Wellington last weekend for her wedding party. A chilled event in a bar on the waterfront, with 60 or so close friends and family.
I saw family I haven't seen for the best part of a decade, I reconnected with people I used to party with in my early 20s. They mostly now all have kids and marriages and serious, well-paid jobs and I'm super proud of them!
I used to be a bit envious of those people that 'had it all'. Until I realised there's no such thing as 'it all'. There's just a different struggle and set of issues for them to deal with on a daily basis than the ones I have!
My point is that my sister getting married and having a party about it allowed everyone to come together and reflect on their lives, as well as looking to the future for her and for themselves.
It also made me give my tardy 'keeping in touch with family members and friends that aren't directly under my nose and don't post frequently on social media' skills a good uppercut! Who have I become? A millennial!
The other thing that made me a little emo in a different way was being able to attend this kind of epic family/friends event with someone from the Bay who is super special to me.
Someone who, in my humble opinion, lights up a room with an effortless charisma, actual
genuine interest in the new people put in front of her (not to mention the intelligence and confidence to actually question them and relate), oh, and, a hint of infectious bubbliness that draws me to her.
It was such a great environment to introduce one of my most highly valued humans to my other highly valued humans. I'm lucky enough to have them in and around my life.
If this column does nothing else for you other than to make you think of who those people are in your life and appreciate them, then it's done its job.