Soul Highway

Civil status: Married

Time to get a little mushy. As friends and family know by now, we finally did it. Tied the knot, that is. November 3rd is the date to remember. A couple of years later and there we were, standing in the middle of a park, grinning like crazy. It’s amazing how a 15-minute ceremony could culminate a long journey (a day shy of two years), the better part of which spent 10,000 miles apart.

In an email to close friends, I wrote that he and I did not have a whirlwind, conventional romance but the wedding was certainly express. Forty-five minutes after securing the marriage license from the courthouse, we drove to a park where the marriage officiator was to meet us. We walked with her in the park, thinking she would lead us to an office or residence to perform the ceremony. Not so. In the middle of the park she pointed to a spot in front of a tree and proceeded with the rite. He and I exchanged surprised looks that said, “Right here?”

Remember how you discriminating cinephiles out there used to cringe when you get to the part where a love-struck couple couldn’t tear their eyes off each other, start to wax poetic and claim the world had stood still for them? I’ve got some news for you – it is possible. I refuse to incriminate myself further.

Once upon a time, I, too, dreamed of a little wedding. A little chapel somewhere, a flowing gown, a bridal entourage in pretty dresses, that sentimental moment of being “given away” by teary-eyed parents, a reception lasting two hours, the exchange of vows at the altar, an unforgettable honeymoon. Not all dreams come true the way we want them, but see, life is a little tricky and happiness has its own ways of finding you. We do not even belong to the same religion so scratch the altar part.

I simply remember standing there, looking into his eyes and, yes, grinning. I remember being nervous that I recited my vows at the same time he was saying his (like a mass oath-taking) and the officiator had to stop me. “Let him say his part first.” Oops. I broke out laughing. I remember having fun. I will remember those 15 minutes and the way that he looked.

On the way home, that silly smile still pasted on our faces, the first words out of my mouth were, “Wow. I’m married.”

Posted by fleur at November 7, 2006 05:54 AM