birdseed? where's the rice?

the last thing we did tonight was get bags of birdseed before the bride and groom departed the restaurant, in what was an elegant affair.

i am referring to the muptials celebrated by my friends krista and alan. both work with me and that is where they met more than three years ago.

the wedding was held in saugatuck at all saints episcopal in a quaint church that is, according to the pastor, more than 130 years old. we rushed in 10 minutes prior to the start, wind blowing off the river behind the curch, me almost slipping ona slick patch of ice.

since we arrivd late, we were unable to sit with the others from work. still, they were across from me and we exchanged some comments, most notably the exclamation of "Yessss!" it's something sports announcer marv albert used to use when someon made a great shot or play in basketball. we'd joked that we'd say that when it was time for alan to say "i do." but we figured krista would kill us.

krista looked radiant in the dress as her dad greg walked her down the aisle. it was nice to see my friend looking so happy. she later commented at the reception that it was all a blur while walking up to the altar, but she did see me and felt the urge to say "hola." that would have been awesome.

after the ceremony, we rushed back out and off to holland for the reception. we struggled to find a parking spot, failing to get one behind the restaurant or anywhere downtown. we settled on parking at work and hoofing it the two blocks to the spot, rushing through the wind tunnel that is downtown.

what a blast we had at the table, sitting with jim and jayne, dan and corene, jason and later lee and his wife (i know her name but i don't want to butcher the spelling). we joked, laughed, sang songs, hummed, whistled, swayed to the music. lovely time we had.

i had my first beer in ages...and it felt so good going down. i told dawn it was like when i was 18,s ame taste and feel. i think the beer really loosened me up the rest of the night, too.

i got krista's dad to tel us a joke. it was funny and not off-color as krista feared she might say.

i also danced with 50 percent of the vanwyck women. while i was talking to krista, i went up and was introduced to her mother, mary, then i started to dance with her. it was great, so relaxed and she went with it.

i'd been wanting to dance with the bride and it seemed we never had the chance. and as luck would have it, it was the last dance and we took a few turns before alan gave it a go as she walked out of the restaurant.

dawn and i danced a handful of songs ourselves, including the beatles "in my life," and lennons' "love," which was one of our songs at our wedding. so it was special to slow dance with la wifa.

and so the second wedding involving friends (the first was dan and corene's last year and most of the same bunch attended that one) is complete.

long live the merry couples.