Two of my good friends got married (to each other) in a Jewish wedding.
I, the Gentile, learned that these people really know how to 1) party and 2) eat. Some great food, and some out-of-control traditional dancing. We did the thing where we all hold hands, form a circle and dance around the bride and groom. Then, we collapsed the circle and crushed/hugged the new married couple. I was right on the groom, so I could tell he was feeling totally surrounded, but they were all so short, when I looked up, it felt like there was no crowd at all. I think I was the tallest person there by about a foot, save a few other guys.
Actually, I got there a day early and went out witha few other people of Friday. We went to McGillian's which had kareoke on that night. I chose to do "Ring of Fire," becuase Johnny Cash doesn't really sing so much as he talks real deep. When I took the stage, some girl in the crowd, (not one of my people) yelled, "TALL GUYS RULE!"
Becuase, you know, I worked really hard to get to this height. I was made the Varsity in Tall my senior year.
I realize people don't really mean it when they see all of my friends and me out and ask ""Why are you so tall?"
"Look, I really had nothing to do with it" was my old answer. Now, I tell questioners we all escaped from the same genetic testing facility.
So this wedding was a lot of fun, but in some ways, those occasions make me sad. I didn't get to spend much time with the bride and groom, both of whom I love hanging out with. Plus, when tons of people get together, it feels like you don't really get a chance to talk in depth and catch up on how their lives are going. Plus, with all these different factions of friends together, things can get a little polarized.
That doesn't take away from the fact that I had a blast.
Oh wait, there was one uncomfortable moment. When the groom was doing this really long prayer/song at near the end of the reception, I made a joke to this one guy, Karsten, about how it was taking so long, Don Maclean was going to come out and ask the groom to shorten it up. (Anyone reading my journal should know that Don Maclean sang "American Pie" which is probably the longest rock song to have ever been played on the radio) Karsten then says something that I interpreted as "I hate this Isreali stuff." I paused for a moment, becuase Karsten is notoriously difficult to undestand with his Norweigian accent and tendency to mumble. "What was that?"
He said it again, and while I might have gotten the exact words wrong, there was no mistaking the meaning of his statement.
It was odd becuase he's good friends with the bride, but I just said "oh" and took a sip from my drink. Yeah, bartender, could I get a little less awkward with my drink next time? Thanks.
A complete aside. Last summer, I was with a bunch of my friends at a bar on a lake in Wisconsin. There's a camp nearby that attracts a lot of international kids. One of the instructors was there, and she didn't speak English very well, as she was from Russia and only had a rudimentary language education. We had been speaking for a couple of hours and were both pretty drunk. After dancing for awhile, I was explaining the term "awkward" to her, but she wasn't getting it. I thought about it for a second, and then moved to kiss her. She pulled back and made a sound like "uh."
I said "That's awkward."
She got it.
I, the Gentile, learned that these people really know how to 1) party and 2) eat. Some great food, and some out-of-control traditional dancing. We did the thing where we all hold hands, form a circle and dance around the bride and groom. Then, we collapsed the circle and crushed/hugged the new married couple. I was right on the groom, so I could tell he was feeling totally surrounded, but they were all so short, when I looked up, it felt like there was no crowd at all. I think I was the tallest person there by about a foot, save a few other guys.
Actually, I got there a day early and went out witha few other people of Friday. We went to McGillian's which had kareoke on that night. I chose to do "Ring of Fire," becuase Johnny Cash doesn't really sing so much as he talks real deep. When I took the stage, some girl in the crowd, (not one of my people) yelled, "TALL GUYS RULE!"
Becuase, you know, I worked really hard to get to this height. I was made the Varsity in Tall my senior year.
I realize people don't really mean it when they see all of my friends and me out and ask ""Why are you so tall?"
"Look, I really had nothing to do with it" was my old answer. Now, I tell questioners we all escaped from the same genetic testing facility.
So this wedding was a lot of fun, but in some ways, those occasions make me sad. I didn't get to spend much time with the bride and groom, both of whom I love hanging out with. Plus, when tons of people get together, it feels like you don't really get a chance to talk in depth and catch up on how their lives are going. Plus, with all these different factions of friends together, things can get a little polarized.
That doesn't take away from the fact that I had a blast.
Oh wait, there was one uncomfortable moment. When the groom was doing this really long prayer/song at near the end of the reception, I made a joke to this one guy, Karsten, about how it was taking so long, Don Maclean was going to come out and ask the groom to shorten it up. (Anyone reading my journal should know that Don Maclean sang "American Pie" which is probably the longest rock song to have ever been played on the radio) Karsten then says something that I interpreted as "I hate this Isreali stuff." I paused for a moment, becuase Karsten is notoriously difficult to undestand with his Norweigian accent and tendency to mumble. "What was that?"
He said it again, and while I might have gotten the exact words wrong, there was no mistaking the meaning of his statement.
It was odd becuase he's good friends with the bride, but I just said "oh" and took a sip from my drink. Yeah, bartender, could I get a little less awkward with my drink next time? Thanks.
A complete aside. Last summer, I was with a bunch of my friends at a bar on a lake in Wisconsin. There's a camp nearby that attracts a lot of international kids. One of the instructors was there, and she didn't speak English very well, as she was from Russia and only had a rudimentary language education. We had been speaking for a couple of hours and were both pretty drunk. After dancing for awhile, I was explaining the term "awkward" to her, but she wasn't getting it. I thought about it for a second, and then moved to kiss her. She pulled back and made a sound like "uh."
I said "That's awkward."
She got it.
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And damn all you tall people.