Something Borrowed, Something Broken

Wedding #2 tonight, and the reception is still going on. So why am I blogging right now?

I mean, come on, I've been looking forward to this wedding. I traveled three hours today (on 4 hours of sleep) and all the while thoughts of drinking and dancing the night away filled my head. The mental picture of myself wearing my favorite polka dot "twirly dress" proved to be fantastic motivation to slightly break the interstate speed limit. Yet here I am, sitting in a hotel room, my "twirly dress" on a hanger, watching the World Series of Poker and sipping hotel water from a plastic cup. I barely even got to have any cake.

Well, sorry to say, my boyfriend got sick, so we had to leave early. I should be pissed, right? Oh please, not in the slightest. The truth is the wedding was beautiful, a picture perfect homage to the Montana lifestyle I love so much. Girls wore sundresses and cowboy boots and guys looked sharp in the nicest pair of jeans they owned. Dogs and little kids played in the background, and a fare of burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, corn on the cob and watermelon tasted perfect on a warm Saturday afternoon. A large tent filled with white Christmas lights cast a soft glow on tables full of beer cans as old baseball teammates told stories of when they all played together in college. I only wore my shoes for the actual ceremony itself. Not because they were uncomfortable, but because the feel of cool grass on my feet was too inviting to pass up.

So should I really even have anything to complain about? Sure some things went wrong, like the fact that I brought my camera but left it's memory card at home, but I can buy a disposable camera at a gas station tomorrow. And so what if I have a minor sunburn, since the ceremony was located in direct sunlight and my skin is one shade darker than your average albino...I'll pick up some soothing lotion when I pick up the disposable camera. It seems some sort of flu medication and a heavy dose of caffeine are going to be on the list anyway, so I wouldn't even be making an extra stop.

In all honesty, I don't mind being in the hotel room now, because I already experienced my favorite part of the wedding: watching the ceremony while holding hands with my boyfriend. It's as if the vows being recited are released into the air, then swirl about and settle upon those who also share in their meaning. Feeling him squeeze my hand and kiss my forehead as two people promise to devote their lives to each other seems to not only acknowledge our own devotion, but strengthen it as well. For a moment, we are in our own world, appreciating the rare level of happiness that can only be reached when one of us is in the company of the other. We're fortunate, and we know it.

So the rest of the wedding festivities, as callous as it may seem, are really quite irrelevant. Whether our time together is spent on a dance floor or spent in a hotel room, I'm grateful for it either way. Anything extra is really just icing on the cake. Delicious red velvet cake, I might add, and I look forward to more later in the week. But if not? No loss, I'll just make some when I get home. Besides, I really don't watch enough poker anyway.