The weather on Friday was pretty nasti. In fact, all week I was
being warned about all the impending weather-related dooms that were
due to befall us. A few good things, though: Saturday was supposed
to be warmer and possibly sunny for part of the day! I'm like,
"We'll see."
Friday night, I told Dale I'd come read with him in about five
minutes. That was about 11pm. I thought to myself, "I'll get a good
night's sleep tonight, because tomorrow is a big day and I'll want
all that rest." So I got involved in "neatening" the house. My
playpen was a disaster area, and I figured you never know, I might
drag the poor unsuspecting guests upstairs for a peek at Shady. So I
went to bed around 2am.
Saturday morning, 7am: I was up. I left around 9:30 to pick up a
couple platters I'd ordered the previous day. I got home around
10:30. Dale and I snagged some meat from one platter and made
ourselves breakfast grinders. Heh. Our Justice of the Peace, Diana,
arrived right at 11am, an hour early, but we enjoyed her company and
I was a bit relieved to see someone and get my "entertaining" beak
wet. Shortly afterward, Dale's brother arrived. Then my best friend
came with a cake and bouquet/boutonniere. After admiring her gifts I
ushered her upstairs to show her the iMac and a book I'd made and a
few other things, and then I got dressed so that she could give her
final appraisal. (She knows about these things.) Stan showed up
while her and I were upstairs, and crept up to say hi. My friend
left shortly after that. I wanted to have her come up with us, and
spontaneously asked if she'd consider, but she said we should stick
to the plan and I'm glad she said that, because I feel she was still
part of things in a big way and somehow it felt perfect that she had
played the part she did, no more, no less.
The rest of us left about 1pm, I think. Not sure. Stan and I rode
with Diana, and Dale rode with his brother, Kevin. We parked around
the corner from the path up the mountain, and started our journey.
It wasn't as muddy as we'd expected with all the snow and rain, and
we chatted as we walked along the path up the mountain. About 1/3 of
the way up, Diana started needing more and more breaks. Stan got a
bit worried about her, but I said, "She warned us she might need to
go slow, she's fine." He reluctantly held back his concerns and we
kept climbing. Half-way up, she leaned against a tree and admitted
she was a bit dizzy. Then it was my turn to get concerned. After
she insisted on going onward, however, I remembered how I often got
dizzy doing something a bit strenuous, and all I needed was a bit of
rest.
It seemed she required a rest every five minutes or so, but by then
we'd all fallen back so we were behind her. Thus, she went at her
own pace and was fine. We found out she's 72!! I thought 55 maybe,
others were around that in their guesses. None of us could believe
how old she was!! And there she was, an inspiration before our
eyes... climbing a mountain yet one more time to make sure a young
couple got married like they wanted to get married. We were in awe,
we were.
We made it to the top, set up our equipment - Dale and I of course
had stuff to set up!! - and prepared to "tie the knot." Diana read
so well from the pages we'd given her, as if she'd read our words a
million times. She'd only read them once - just before we left. I
looked at Dale, looked at her, looked back at Dale, hearing what
Diana was saying, the words I'd helped to write, so full of meaning -
and all sorts of things floated through my head, but none so strong
as the love I felt for Dale. It brimmed with the intensity of a
mountaintop wedding, a wedding that is intellectually overcast with
gray but whose soul is full of sunlight no matter what the weather
outside is like.
When Diana said the "forever hold your peace" thing, I turned to tell
the birds to hush up (they were chirping). I turned back in time to
see Dale making a fist, a "threat" to ward off anyone who might dare
raise concerns. It apparently worked, because Diana seemed satisfied
that we were still qualified to get married. She continued.
Kevin soon presented us with Dale's "ring" - a spearmint lifesaver.
We had a good laugh over that one. It had been Stan's comment that
inspired Kevin and Diane to go in on that together, unbeknownst to us
until the moment had arrived when the rings were needed. I'm glad we
caught that moment on video, for it truly is a memory worth keeping
alive.
Anywho, we exchanged rings, "thee wedded" each other, and waited for
Diana's closing words. We kissed. I remember that the last 30
seconds or so seemed like an eternity. I kept thinking, as she went
through all the things we were committing to: "Wow... we're almost
married." I quickly went through a list in my mind of things that
were a bit too late to debate: Am I really sure about this? Yes.
Do I want to be married? To Dale, yes. Should we have had more
people here? Nah. Am I happy? One sec, let me ask my heart. Oh,
yes, yes I am. Check. All systems go. Continue. "I do," I
whispered, realizing that I was only nodding my acceptance of the
vows Diana had just put forth to me. Several times I felt my eyes
tear up, and I had to look at the tree behind Diana to keep myself
from snotting all over the place. I held up well.
And then, we were finally theewedded.
All congratulations came to order, so we tended to our mechanical
devices. Diana asked permission to start back down the hill so she
could get a head start. We stayed another five minutes or so, then
started after her.
She BOLTED off that mountain. She must have flown in fact. We
finally caught her at the bottom, shortly before the path ended and
street began!! 72 our butts!! We tumbled back into the cars, came
back to the house, and sat around chatting for a while. Around 6,
everyone left, each in turn.
Well, we didn't do anything that could be socially construed as
"special." We'd thought about going to one of our favourite
restaurants, but we agreed we weren't in the mood to go out. So, we
stayed home, watched some TV, and enjoyed our first evening as a
married couple. It was nice, being with him, just the two of us.
Now. Let me tell you about the weather.
Sunday it got cold and rainy. By afternoon, the rain had become
sleet and the road in front of our house was very slick. We opted
not to go out then, either, because of this. The wind started to
pick up and as the night wore on we could hear ice pellets whipping
at the windows. Monday was the start of my new work schedule, so I
got up first, having to be in at 8:30am. As I left, I thought, hm,
not too bad. Certainly some wind during the night given a few bits
of branches lying on the ground, but overall, warm, a bit rainy, but
windy? Bah, died down. A gust of strong wind knocked that out of me
REAL quick, but still, not as bad as it /could/ be considering the
"storm" we were supposed to have.
Yet, if it weren't for the wind otherwise LACKING in our
neighbourhood, I would have sworn it was a hurricane. There was a
strange stillness and an odd look to the sky that intuited something
more than just a lingering "winter" storm. Turns out my intuition
was right, even though my logic had already written it off as another
incorrect weather report.
I didn't see what the storm was really trying to do to this little
area of the state until I got into the city. Apparently our little
town is sheltered by the surrounding mountains, so it didn't get hit
too hard other than the overflowing creek down the middle of town and
along the highway. But the city was right in its path, being in a
valley and far more open to the destruction whipping down its major
road. 3/4 of the city did in fact lose power, much of it is still
out today. I heard that Portland, ME was quite taken by the storm,
too. (Don't worry, mom called and left a message today saying she's
all right, just doesn't have power, and some of the nearby streets
are under water. Eh, that's nothing, lol.) I found out yesterday
afternoon that what we experienced was, indeed, a hurricane. What
happened was a cold front came toward us - the snow we were supposed
to get - and then a nor'easter came in from the east and collided
with the cold. Warmer moisture hit snow and it created an irritable
vortex of war over what would precipitate where.
Currently, the creek is swollen to the point that most of its typical
shores are unrecognizable. A little cow pasture down the road here
is under water save for a small patch right near the highway. The
cows are all huddled under a couple trees but I found out from their
owners that they're fine. Dale told me later that if things do get
worse, they'll probably move the cows across the road to another
patch, but I can't see they'd be much better off at this point. That
patch is full of water, too. There is a bit of hill, though. Better
than getting drowned in a creek, I suppose.
So it appears that our wedding day was graced with "good" weather.
It was, in fact, the only "good" day in the past two weeks. I
consider ourselves lucky that we were able to climb that mountain on
the one feasible day between storms. And it was even on the date
we'd set. Wow.
Anywho, tired of writing so I'm off to find a snack and my new...
husband. :) Oh, and let me tell you... changing one's name isn't
difficult in and of itself, it's just difficult to be patient for. I
have to wait for the license to come before I can legally change my
name with anyone, so even though I'm married, and my name has been
changed in the systems at work, I'm still not official with the
government and such. LOL!!
~wlc
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