Weddings, Ties and Smiles

I don't get many opportunities to put on a necktie, and I believe the last time I wore this black sport jacket was at another wedding, that of Stephen and Laura.  It, too, was outdoors, as was the wedding celebration of Raphael and Woan Ching.

By contrast, the wedding of Madhu and Rie was indoors, although we did light a fire as part of the ceremony. It burned not in the fireplace, but in a temporary brick pit in the middle of the living room carpet. It's a bit of a story, and I digress.

What do these weddings have in common? Shari and I helped officiate. That's an honor and a delight for us.

Mind you, with Raph and Woan Ching, it was unofficial. I do not know if the authority conferred upon Shari and me by the International Assembly of Spiritual Healers and Earth Stewards Convocation of Ministers extends to Arizona. Fortunately, Raph and Woan Ching got married by a judge a year earlier. But this was the big celebration and they went all out. They needed someone with gravitas to play the role of officiant, and if there is something I regret about the past, it's not turning out for drama in high school.

Good thing I printed the script in large font because for the first half of the performance, I forgot to put on my reading glasses. The crowd made me nervous. I couldn't figure out why the letters were a bit fuzzy. But read the script I did, managing to look up occasionally, although I mangled some Chinese names and certainly mangled the Mandarin blessing at the end. "Bai neean how hö … jung gyie tong shīn" is how I wrote it down in my own mix of Spanish and Hungarian phonetics.

Fortunately, family and friends enjoyed the show. Most importantly, bride and groom were happy, which makes Shari and me ecstatic. Thanks to everyone who made it possible, and as we say in Mandarin (Woan Ching's translation),

Be in love and devote yourselves to each other.

Good advice for everyone, married, committed, single or not.