After everything settled down with my best friend’s unborn twins, he ended up getting hospitalized himself! He’s fine, or will be, or I’m not even sure. He and his partner know how to handle insanity though, so I’m not worried about them now that the little boys are en route to a live birth.
However, Friday found me in Seattle for an old, old friend’s wedding. Like, a friend I met when I was six and haven’t seen in nearly ten years. I probably wouldn’t have ended up there since we aren’t close anymore, but the reason we knew each other in the first place was that our Dads were best friends from high school. So, when her Dad came to town for the wedding he crashed with us so he could be nearby but not underfoot, and I went with him to the ceremony.
Her Dad lives down in Lewis County, way out in the countryside with another old mutual friend of my Dad’s. Since my Dad isn’t close to his family and I never met anyone of a blood relation to him (except for me and my brother) I’ve always kind of thought of the guys down in Lewis County as uncles. They’re what I get instead of a family on Dad’s side, and they’re a whole lot of fun to go see. They all have the best stories of science gone wrong, international travel, country living, and adventures through a 70s youth. Everybody came up for the wedding, and it was good to see them all.
She wanted to get married out at Gasworks Park on May Day, so we ended up collecting a few random park goers in the procession down to the steps. Everyone was happy, and even though she couldn’t make it, the groom’s Mom showed up on Skype. He held out his hand to the tablet and yelled “LOOK MOM I’M MARRIED” once it finally started working. They were adorable, and had a funny internet-certified minister marry them.
The reception was lovely, and her Dad did a great toast. The whole wedding was very casual, but it was fun to dress up a little bit and revel in how awesome marriage is. Even if a drunken aunt I’d never met did try to set me up with one of the bride’s work friends. Actually, especially since she tried to set me up. The nice thing about being handed a giant slice of cake, told to share it with a guy, and then sent off alone together is you don’t have to worry about making things awkward after that. I love meeting people. Random, short-lived social experiences are under-rated…like the super gregarious black lady on the bus yesterday, who had all sorts of advice for how to treat sunburns and take care of my skin since her husband is an Irish redhead too.
AUDREY GREATHOUSE 