I arrived in Houston on Saturday, October 17th after a brutal 12 hour drive. I was a zombie as I entered the city on the interstate and my first thought was “I am definitely not going to live here”. There was so much highway and so many buildings and so few trees and I still had to drive another hour to get to my parents’ house even though I was already in the city. It gave me anxiety and I was very grateful when I got home.

On Sunday, we celebrated my niece’s 1st birthday. Iris’s real birthday is on November 4th, but my grandparents were already in town from Ecuador for my sister’s wedding, so they moved the celebration up so they could be there. That meant that I could also be at the party, so it was fine with me.

When I left in February, Iris was 3 months old. I’ve seen pictures and videos of her in the last few months, but it was crazy to see how big she is in person. She was almost walking (she took her first steps a few days ago!), has the funniest and most contagious laugh, and if you lose sight of her for one second, she’ll have crawled halfway up the stairs.

Monday was my errands day. I made sourdough bread, got my vehicle inspection, and voted early since I won’t be in Houston on election day. Let this be your reminder to do your civic duty and go vote, even if you don’t like any of the candidates. I didn’t change my address on my voter registration after I left on my road trip, so when they asked me if that was my address, I said no. My address on my license is different than the one on my voter registration. It’s from two moves ago. So when they asked me if that one is correct, I also said no. Luckily, they let me fill out a form to change my address and still let me vote, but it made me realize that I’ve had too many addresses in the last few years and I need to stop moving. After all my errands, I had dinner with my friends Chiamaka and Victoria. I had been craving hummus for a few weeks and I finally got to have some.

On Tuesday, I had a dentist appointment and then met up with Alex, who got married in Austin in August, and Mike to watch a movie. They’re both in my book club. I haven’t been able to attend any of the book club meetings since February, but I’ve been reading all the books. Well, all of them except the current one. It’s about parking. Yes, there’s an entire 368 page book about parking. The first two chapters were interesting and changed the way I think about parking and having to pay for it. But after that, it just keeps going and there’s only so many interesting things you can say about parking. I was so bored and I have better books to read, so I DNF’d it. Mike and Alex both got through the whole book somehow.

After the movie, I went to my brother Ricky’s house. He’s Iris’s dad and I wanted to spend more time with her, so I stayed with them for a few days. On Wednesday morning, Sarah, my sister in law, Iris, and I went to my parents’ house to help with wedding prep. Some of my aunts and cousins had arrived and brought a bunch of baked sweets that we usually have at weddings. We had to wrap some of them and fill others with dulce de leche. That afternoon, I was supposed to meet my friend Osede, but she wasn’t feeling well, so I took a nap instead. At night, I had dinner with my sister, Nicole, and our friends Maca and Mer, who are also sisters.

On Thursday morning, I had breakfast at my friend Erin’s house. She moved while I was away, so I got to see her new place and spend time with her and her three boys. After that, I went back to my parents’ house for more wedding prep. There were a bunch of people there making flower arrangements. I’m not very artistic and the thought of making flower arrangements gave me anxiety, so I helped my aunt Tere and cousin Maria Isabel make cookies so I would look busy and no one would ask me to help with the flowers. I did end up helping my sister, Nathalie, with a couple of her arrangements though.

That evening, I babysat Iris. Ricky and Sarah had an event to go to with Ricky’s coworkers. Iris hadn’t napped but also didn’t want to sleep when Ricky tried to put her down before he left. So they left me with a cranky baby who really needed to sleep but didn’t want to. We played for a little bit and then I tried to get her to sleep, but every time I took her into Ricky’s room, where she was sleeping, she would scream bloody murder. We started a cycle of playing for a little bit, trying to take her into the room, her screaming, me walking and bouncing her in the hallway to try to get her to sleep outside the room, her getting really fussy, playing again, and the cycle continued.

At one point, I almost called my mom because I didn’t know what else to try. But then I realized that I’m an adult and I know what she needs and I need to show her that I’m an adult and that I know what she needs and that I can give her what she needs. After playing a little more, I took her into the bedroom and bounced her. She screamed for a few seconds, but settled pretty quickly. It took a lot of bouncing, but she finally fell asleep. I was proud of myself.

On Friday morning, Ricky and I went back to my parents’ house to practice the siblings dance we were doing at the wedding. I took all my stuff with me since I was staying there for the rest of my time in Houston. During the dance, we would each have a little time to dance with Vanessa. Most of us got 10 seconds with her, but we gave Ricky 25 seconds since he’s the best dancer and would make Vanessa look good. Some people thought it was unfair to give him more time, but after they saw the dance at the wedding, they agreed that it was the right move.

We went to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner in the afternoon, and then went to my uncle’s house where everyone on my dad’s side of the family that was in town for the wedding was getting together. I was really tired and had to wake up early, so I said hi to everyone, got in a few pictures as proof that I was there, and then did an Irish goodbye and went home to sleep.

Saturday was wedding day! We had to wake up early to be at the venue by 8 am to get ready there. Vanessa, my sister who got married, was very stressed about all the details being perfect, so we spent a lot of time trying to calm her down and assuring her that all the people who were helping get the venue ready knew what they were doing. Bringing her Logan, her then fiancé, now husband, is the best way to calm her down, but that was the one thing we couldn’t do that day.

Vanessa had ordered a bouquet for herself, but when it showed up, she didn’t like it. Some of the flowers didn’t look good, it didn’t include buttercups, which she had specifically requested they include, and the bridesmaids’s bouquets and flower arrangements that friends and family had made a few days before looked better than the one she paid for. Her friend Carla came to the rescue. She took apart the bouquet, used the good flowers and added some of the leftover flowers from Thursday, and made a much more beautiful bouquet.

We all got hair and makeup done and then my mom, Nicole, Nathalie, and I helped Vanessa into her dress. We were all doing great until my aunt Christy walked in and teared up when she saw Vanessa in her dress. We were all done for at that point and kept trying not to cry so we wouldn’t ruin our makeup. The photographer took advantage of our moment of weakness and started taking a bunch of pictures of all of us.

The wedding Mass was beautiful. Iris stole the show first. She was the flower girl and had a little cart to push that was full of flowers since she couldn’t walk on her own yet. She kept stopping to wave at all the guests and Sarah had to get her back on track. Vanessa stole the show after that. It was sweet to see how emotional Logan got when he saw her. One of their friends sang during the Mass. She’s Mexican and sang in Spanish, which made it even more special for my family since they were songs that we loved growing up.

After Mass, came photos at the church, photos at the venue, dinner, speeches where everyone was trying (and failing) not to cry, and dances. Somehow, we managed to pull off the siblings dance after minimal rehearsing. Then, Vanessa and Logan shocked us all with how complex their first dance was! There I was, expecting a normal slow dance, and then they start doing spins and spinning lifts and dips.

After that, the party started. The DJ was latin, so the music was great, a mix of English and Spanish songs. Logan’s grandma had gotten them a churro cart and the churros were amazing. And then came the hora loca (crazy hour). It’s a tradition in Ecuador that happens late into a wedding reception to re-energize the crowd. There’s usually high-energy music, props and accessories, sometimes confetti, and sometimes costumed performers. Vanessa tasked her sisters with planning the hora loca and gave us full creative liberty. We bought sunglasses, Mardi Gras beads, and glow sticks. That’s what Vanessa was expecting. What she wasn’t expecting was that we put our two brothers in inflatable costumes. They then convinced two friends to do the same and bought two more costumes, so we had two cows and two t-rexes. Everyone loved it and had a blast! The night ended with sparklers and after the couple left, a bunch of us stayed to clean up the venue.

The next morning, all my mom’s side of the family and Logan’s parents and sister went to Christy’s house for brunch before everyone started flying home. It was nice to see everyone in a calmer setting, since I didn’t get to talk to everyone who came from out of town at the wedding.

On Monday morning, I began my drive to Spokane. Being in Houston was hard. Watching my littlest sister get married was hard. But thankfully, the week was full of moments of joy to balance out the hard ones. And now, the road trip continues.