It’s wedding season. And this past weekend, my mother and I gave my sister away to my now brother-in-law.

I had never been involved in a wedding before, so walking my sister down the aisle was a new experience for me. The coolest part to me, of course, was the fact that the wedding was 1950s-themed, and I was able to drive a 1960s Mustang to the little gothic chapel called St. Mary’s.

Yeah, 1960s does not equal 1950s, but it was the oldest we could find. Regardless, it was a short honeymoon with the old car. The air conditioner did not work, and it being July in Mississippi, no thanks to life without AC.

I have plenty of expensive hobbies, so I guess my wallet and bank account will rest easier know I will not be developing one in purchasing vintage vehicles.

I digress. The wedding itself was beautiful, the ceremony and reception. The food and containers the food went in all matched the theme — the only thing that did not was the music, which was mostly newer stuff for people to dance to. I can look back and say I enjoyed it.

The drive was tough, though. On the way there, I decided to go through the mountains, so I took Interstate 40, and then slipped down to 59, then 20, and ultimately arrived in Mississippi at midnight. It took 16 hours. The first 6 hours, including the mountain experience, was fun. I enjoyed the scenery, and the music on my iPhone was not annoying me yet.

The next 10 hours was a blur of, “Will I ever get there?”

I did, but only to stop through, see my family, and then drive back on Monday.

This time, I wasn’t worried about seeing anything, so I just took the “short” route through Atlanta. Before I even start my journey, I’m already sick of all of my music on my iPhone, so I “cheated” and listened to streaming sports radio most of the way. I cheated in that my data plan is not built for streaming that much stuff, but I could neither take my music nor the silence.

This was at least partially enjoyable, except it was Ryan Braun day, if I remember correctly, and I’m tired of hearing about performance enhancing drugs in baseball. It has basically been football season for me since William and Mary put Ole Miss out in the regional tournament months ago, most of the sports radio people have just not made that move with me.

I did not make great time because I remained in Mississippi to get my car tag. Unfortunately, the company I bought my car from did not fill out the title correctly, so the title had to go back. So I left, still with the temporary tag. I suppose I shall be a Virginia taxpayer now, since I will not be visiting Mississippi for some time. This doesn’t exactly bother me, but leaving as late as I did for nothing was not exactly fun.

Then I got to Atlanta. It was 6 p.m., and I remember at one point, it took me more than 30 minutes to go two miles. I eventually got out of Atlanta, and continued my journey home, listing to stories I don’t want to hear about regarding Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez.

I eventually switched to the music I did not want to listen to, rather than the silence, after first driving everyone I knew crazy by trying to get them to talk on the phone for longer than they wished. It is what one does on a long trip.

I made it home in Franklin at 2:30 a.m., unloaded everything and probably got to bed by 3:30 a.m.

I dragged into work at 10 a.m. the next day, and all week, I have been dragging, usually not putting the paper to bed before 10 p.m.

I have been trying to hide the fact that I’ve been tired as much as possible, being as young as I am, but I have to admit, I’m ready to go to bed this weekend.

Too bad it is the weekend I’m helping my girlfriend move to Chapel Hill.

Regardless, next time I go to Mississippi, I’m flying. By the time I pay for gas and account for the time I had to take off to accomplish the feat of driving more than 30 hours in one weekend, I would probably be coming out ahead.

It is wedding season, but luckily the next Mississippi wedding does not come until November, and I think my next expensive hobby shall be saving up for airplane tickets to fly to weddings I’m involved in.

Cain Madden is the managing editor of The Tidewater News. He can be reached at cain.madden@tidewaternews.com.