Again, it has been a long time since I have written. I've been quite busy. I got married last week.
For a long time, I thought of marriage to be this vague, theoretic concept. Sort of like algebra. I thought, sure, it will affect my life someday, but don't ask me to explain what it looks like or how it works. It was just smoke and mirrors to me.
Well, all of that changed in the months leading up to the wedding. This concept, which previously was so ephemeral, became very very real. Marriage took the form of Kayte saying, "Honey, please remember to get your haircut tomorrow." Or, "What do you think of this dress for the rehearsal dinner?" Evidently, my reflexive shrug (what, she thinks I could have an opinion on a dress?) precipitated a flurry of stress (on her part) and confusion (on my part) as she instantly packed the dress up and shipped it off to be returned for a model that didn't bring about the reflexive shrug. When she showed me the new one, I went to my happy place and smiled. All was right with the dress.
It was months of this. As I dozed happily in the bed on weekend mornings, Kayte would be up at her computer, with her mom on the phone, saying things like "We can't put the place cards on the table until AFTER the plates arrive." I became very comfortable in my happy place, which was much simpler than the world of charger plates (?), guest lists, first dances (don't even get me started), and the dreaded vows. We wrote our own, mine on hotel stationary the night before the big day and Kayte's on nicely-printed paper that matched the programs.
My last-minute, cobbled-together vows are not to suggest that I wasn't invested in the process. I loved the idea of joining with the most wonderful woman I have ever met, who is smart, beautiful, and also happens to be a fantastic climber. I also loved the idea of friends from all aspects of my life in the same room with my family. And honestly, the wedding went off perfectly, at least in my eyes, though there could have been some unforeseen snafu with the charger plates clashing with the place cards. Maybe the program had a misprint. If so, I was blissfully unaware of such things.
I remember wanting to get another plate of food at the reception. It was good food, and as is always the case with good food, I wanted more. Somehow, though I got distracted. I remember doing the heralded "leg-dance" on the dance floor. To my knowledge, this dance had not been seen by the general public since one night at a bar in Oshkosh, WI, in 2001. I remember looking across the room at Kayte in all of her radiant bride-glow, the stress subsided, replaced by enjoyment, and from the looks of it, a slight twinge of satisfaction. It was a great wedding. It really was.
Now I have time to do all of those things that were so easily placed in the "after the wedding" column of my life. I can get out to Rumney and climb more. I'm able to write this blog. I can focus a bit more on my health, and less on things such as tuxes for my guys. That, by the way, was my only responsibility and I nailed it. So, this begins the after-the-wedding segment of my life, and it's a wonderful place to be. It's a quiet, calm, simple place, and it's next to my beautiful bride.
