The Weddings of 2011

The summer of 2011, it seems, was the summer of weddings. I went to one in Maine (which I’ve previously posted about here), then July brought a wedding in Illinois, August a wedding in Toledo, and September a wedding in Oxford, OH. And that’s not even counting the wedding in Connecticut or Seattle that I unfortunately had to decline due to scheduling conflicts. Apparently now then was the time to get married, who knew.

The wedding in IL was for one of my best friends. I’ve known this kid since I was born and I could not love him more than as the brother he practically already is. Brother from another mother, sister from a different mister. I was honored to be a bridesmaid for his lovely, now, wife. And, even though pink is not my favorite color in the world, I had an amazing time dancing and smiling and celebrating my “baby bro” and new “sister-in-law.”

Wedding 2 of this post was in Toledo. A Yankee Ohio gal married my Alabamian coworker and it was a blast. For this one I was free to watch from the congregation as he glowed at the sight of her walking down the aisle. Chris is a bit of a goofball so to see that moment of pure, all-encompassing joy for him was priceless. Not to mention they really know how to throw a party, dancing the night away till the wee hours of the morning. I sadly sustained a dance floor ankle injury when one of the very tall, very large groomsman fell on top of me, but even then (after a lot of ice and pain meds) I was able to watch the rest of those boogying down on the floor with pleasure.

The final wedding of the season was easily the most perfectly suited wedding for my friend Joy that there ever possibly could be. Everything from the people she surrounded herself with to the church to the programs to the calico bows tied around the pews were so quintessentially Joy that it made my heart burst with happiness for her. It was all so simple and pure and true. It’s the kind of day that anyone would be absolutely blessed to experience as their own.
A lot of people say that they hate going to weddings. And I can understand how they can be stressful, the amount of work and time just to be a guest let alone a participant is exhausting but I always have such a great time when I’m there that I can never understand the “hate.” They are celebrations. They are unabashed fun. They are, even in the smallest way, surrounded by signs of the happiness that is to come. I know they say most marriages end in divorce and that for me to be so optimistic for myself and my friends is naïve, but I can’t help but disagree. Everything happens for a reason and their, my, our steps down the aisle are leading us to the next chapter of who we are meant to be.

I prefer to stay that optimistic, as there is nothing naïve about the power of hope.

Maine-ly Beautiful

Being from the Midwest, I know very little about the East coast...not to mention New England. This was my first trip to NE in years. You'd think for the first return trip, fate/life would go for something more modest like a major city. Nope, not in this case. As life would have it, this trip I was going all the way up the coast to Maine for an absolutely breath-taking destination wedding. And wow was it beautiful. It had all the dark beauty of northwoods Wisconsin but it was mixed with the ocean to add a heavy feeling of age and wisdom. The rock formations alone were unlike any I'd ever seen. And the lobster was just as good as I imagined it would be.

Maybe my wonder with Maine was because of the sleepless night driving it took to get there, but I doubt it. I love sleepy little towns, and this one was covered in mist. A charming little tourist trap "downtown" with candle bowling, fudge shops, and tshirt stands and, of course, the harbor with countless fishing skiffs bobbing. I only wish there was enough time in the weekend to have gotten a harbor tour in, but I suppose that will have to wait for the next (more extended) trip to the coast of Maine. I say this and laugh because the homegirl I am can hardly imagine another trip to Maine since it had taken me this long to go for the first time, but I guess you never know with these sort of things. Even this trip wasn't something I could have imagined or plotted on 2011 till it was all of the sudden there, a wedding in Maine, but all the same, it was beautiful and absolutely somewhere I would go again given the chance.