"i'll love you that way they taught me" - christopher

yesterday I went to a wedding in the woods. in the cedar river watershed, more precisely. There are bears that live here, and the river, and lots of other creatures, and we had to drive up a 4 mile windy gravelly stretch of road, which doesn't sound like a lot, but actually is a long way to go when you are in the backseat of the car feeling nautious from going to sleep late after a jam-packed Friday and Saturday, making artichoke dip at midnight and then waking up early to get to said wedding in the middle of the forest and not eating breakfast because you are too busy detrmining what the fuck to wear to a wedding in the woods that you will have to hike to.

but all that fell away once we got there, because it was simply perfect to hike up the forest, listening to the water and the sound of our footsteps up the hill, with moss and sticks and leaves underfoot. And then Tiffany and Christopher sang a song they wrote, and welcomed us, and Emiko sang, and Clare, too, and Jake's dad offered a blessing and the vows were beautiful.

I'm generally against writing one's own vows, because I've heard too many "I will love you forever" lines and all that kind of crap that I guess is supposed to be poetic but really comes out mushy and meaningless. I mean, for real, what good is "I will love you forever" when cancer comes to call? I think the whole in sickness and in health is in there for a reason.

Anyway, their vows were perfect. Real, substantial, and I guess romantic too. It was a fitting way to end summer and start the fall, with new beginnings and new lives joined together.

And now it's sunny out my window. Hope's creeping back, chasing away some shadows of grief. The mosquito who planted himself outside on my window pane is saying good morning, and Big Mike limps across 23rd while an old woman leans on her cane down the sidewalk.