sistermedusa

The Wedding Report

Thursday night my covenmates came over to try out the mendhi thing and just generally hang out with me on my "last night of freedom" (ha). The henna didn't take. Piffle. Oh well, we'll try it again some day. We blessed the rings and Vajra made me a wedding/love mojo hand with rose petals, basil, lavender, pennyroyal and damiana.

Friday morning dawned. Mama Gaia certainly decided to make the day memorable in Her own special way. It rained. It rained and it rained. It rained Marvins and Mischas (our friends' dog is named Mischa, heh heh). As Tom Robbins wrote in Another Roadside Attraction:

"And it rained a fever. And it rained a silence. And it rained a sacrifice.
And it rained a miracle. And it rained sorceries and saturnine eyes of the totem.

Water spilled off the roofs and the rain hats. It took on the colors of neon and head lamps. It glistened on the claws of nighttime animals.

And it rained a screaming. And it rained a rawness.
And it rained a plasma. And it rained a disorder."

Really. It rained. Portland had its absolute worst traffic day of the year the day we got married. Accidents, traffic tie-ups, chaos in general. It's been dry for so long around here, people plumb forgot how to drive in the rain.

We got to the courthouse in one piece, waited outside in the metal detector line 10-15 minutes (forgot our umbrella) and got through that OK (after removing all our jewelry). Went upstairs to Judge Bergman's chambers, waited a bit, nobody showed up. Byron gingerly knocked on the door, got the paperwork, went to where he was supposed to pay the fee while I waited for our witnesses. And waited, and waited. Finally, Vajra, Jay and Jazmyne come tromping up the stairs; Vajra and Jay had had car trouble. No sign of Mike, Byron's old friend and potential witness. Jazmyne agreed to take his place, and around 9:15 we finally entered the judge's chambers. She greeted us, had us stand in front of her desk, she read a short and sweet ceremony, we ringed each other and sealed it with a kiss. Voila - it was over before I even had time to get nervous. Applause and hugs all around. Jaz took lots of good pics, which we will post as soon as she gets them to us.

After signing the marriage certificate and thanking everyone, we went back out into the hallway to find Mike sheepishly making his way towards us. He had gotten stuck in traffic; it took him half an hour just to get across the Columbia River I-5 bridge (he lives in Vancouver). We were just thankful to see him at last! Unfortunately Jaz had to go work, so we said goodbye to her then. The rest of us headed down the street a couple blocks to The Heathman Restaurant, attached to the fancy Heathman Hotel. Had an excellent brunch and even more excellent conversation. I kept glancing over at Byron thinking, "He's my husband! How cool is that??"

Afterwards, Mike had to head to work himself, so the rest of us headed back to the parking garage. Vaj gave us her gift, a beautiful fern plant in a pot with the interconnected-vines motif that seemed so appropriate for the day. She had magically blessed the plant, which made it even more meaningful. I really am blessed to have such wonderful friends.

We made our way home, changed clothes, and went to the Interstate Fred Meyer to get our rings resized and cleaned - something we should have done before the wedding, but you know how that goes. Then we headed out to see Mom. She was SO glad to see us and to know that we had finally gotten married. God, I want to get her out there so bad.

By that time we were completely exhausted. We talked about going thrifting, but we were so tired we just went home and dinked around for the rest of the day.

So now we're "official." It's a nice feeling. We really are starting a new life together. As Byron said in his LJ, "So let the rain come...and let the plant grow... because life, and love, is good."

Amen & so mote it be.