K & B: The Wedding

Here is a little known fact about me: I kind of love weddings. Okay, I really love weddings.There is always cake and dancing and good people watching and if you're lucky there might even be an open bar. Last weekend, right before I moved, I flew to Palm Springs for the wedding of my friend K. K and I went to grad school together. I am always a little surprised that people who knew me during grad school actually want to talk to me (I was a bit of a dragon), but none the less we were always cool and I learned a lot from K about leadership and staying positive in the face of irritation.

So I took Friday off and flew into the sun. I love Seattle. It is my home and I live here on purpose, but it was so lush to see the sun again and be able to go outside without protective rain gear. K picked me up from the airport where I was whisked to the nearest pharmacy to replace the Robitussin TSA would have confiscated, then we had lunch and mimosas and got full mani and pedicures while I met a whole lot of K's cousins, and sisters. K has a big family and I had never met any of them, so it was really cool to see where she comes from. Everyone was really nice and politely ignored the fact that I spewing out phlem wads of death. Then Cookie showed up, another fabulous friend from grad school. Turned out, she was just recovering from pneumonia, so we shared a room and coughed together.

Friday evening we had burgers with the bride, which I guess is become a family tradition as K's dad owns an international chain of burger joints. The next day Cookie and I lounged by the pool eating cough drops and clearing our sinuses while we caught up with another grad school buddy and her friend. The wedding was in the afternoon and held in a Catholic church where K's uncle is a priest. There were tons of people in and out of the wedding. K had like 8 bridesmaids who all wore navy blue silk that actually looked good on all of them, plus there were flower girls and ring bearers and as K's folks are divorced, so they walked in seperately. Side note: K's mom's gown was a TO DIE FOR gorgeous gold beaded work of art! I digress K was stunningly beautiful in the traditional princess white, with her hair upswept in curls, and her guns totally tight from pre-bridal bootcamp.

As she walked towards her B,and half the women in the audience broke out the kleenex, I couldn't help glancing up at her parents and thinking not all happy endings look the same. 27 years later, neither of my parents have their fairy tale ending. And yet we all keep trying. K & B looked so happy that I couldn't help but believe that forever can be a kept promise, a true adventure in love and partnership. Sometime I get stick on the idea of forever. I mean, how can I envision my forever with someone, when I've never actually seen a long term functional relationship in my own immediate family? Having had this entire lifetime to get to know know my parents, I am actually kind of confused as to how they got together in the first place. I am long since over the childhood days of wishing that they would be together so we could be a TV family. No, for divorced people,my parents have a highly functional relationship in which raising me took precedence over any issues they might have with each other.But I do wish they had gotten their second chances. And as I watched K & B take their vows I wondered if I'll even get my even a first chance at the whole permanent love thing. I didn't wonder too long though, there was cake and champagne to be had.

After a quick stop to down more medicine, the grad school crew and I took a shuttle to reception which was something out of a movie, valet parking, red carpet, hordourves circulating on silver trays, and 2 fabulous and fully stocked open bars. After a multi-course sit down candle lit meal (for 250 people...served on gorgeous dishes ringed with fresh orchid blooms)beginning with lobster bisque and ending in a plate of wedding cake, raspberry creme brule, and sorbet, the party really began. The reception was set at an indoor outdoor venue dotted with palm trees and wrapped around a lagoon that shimmered in the night. There was a bonfire with a s'mores making station, a hot chocolate bar, a fabulous band, and a photo booth....photo booth and an open bar, what an excellent combination!It was a great night. I caught the bouquet and as K had 3 professional camera crews filming, I am sure it is on Utube somewhere. K & B, thanks for letting me share in your moment. It was a beautiful wedding and good reminder that my hope doesn't have to be contained in politics.