2006 End of Year Review, Part 3
Part 3:
A month after I married Sparrow, I arranged the days off for a honeymoon and the proper marriage. Sparrow flew to the Exiled Lands to plan our wedding and find a venue, and spent some time with my mother and the Lizard Man.
Our honeymoon was a road trip up the coast to the Big Sur. It was a short, cold but beautiful trip. We did a lot of hiking, and I learned how fat and out of shape I had become when I nearly had a heart attack after one long hike.
When I returned, I was asked not to go to the bi-annual trade show. They said it was because they wanted to give people who hadn’t gone before the experience. Fair enough.
It was during this time we met the Tattooed Lady, and her beautiful baby daughter. Sparrow took on a part-time job babysitting the little girl, and I helped out occasionally. Sparrow also kept herself busy volunteering for the Ogre Mage as a gallery curator up on the north side of the sprawl. Minor problems aside, we were finding balance.
The wedding came in May, and it was preceeded by a visit at the barracks by Sparrow’s mother and stepfather, as well as three of her friends. They all underestimated the seaside sun (and hole in the ozone), and had the worst sunburns in their lives within three days.
From there, we drove through the desert, stopping at the City of Sin and two nearby national parks on the way to my Mother’s house. It was another wonderful road trip through one of my favourite parts of the world.
The trip finished at our hotel, in time to be joined by the remainder of mine and Sparrow’s families. Everyone was there from my side who could make it: Sirenz and husband, my last dance partner, my uncle and family, my mother and Lizard Man, the Rainbow Dragon and his girlfriend (soon to be his wife, but we didn’t know that yet), the Tattoed Lady, and the Ogre and Ogre Mage (my father and aunt).
The Crocodile did not come because the Ogre uninvited her after a particularly bad spat. This, unfortunately, became the end of mine and Sparrow’s face-to-face dealings with her.
The ceremony was held at a tea shop, by a 90+ year old Episcopal priest. He was one of the most charming people I’ve ever met, and he brought his girlfriend. When my mother-in-law forgot the written vows, Sparrow and I panicked. But the priest came over and assuaged us in his easygoing way, and told us to follow his lead.
After the ceremony, there were many speeches, all really sweet. My brother became choked up for the first time in years in the middle of his speech.
After the ceremony, the reception was at my mother’s wonderfully large house. There was food, drink and karaoke (always a winning combination.)
Among that night’s surprises was just how good my brother’s voice was (‘gospel quality tenor’ as I told him), my mother and father dueting to ‘Always On My Mind’, my wife singing a perfect Olivia Newton-John, the funniest ever version of ‘Ice Ice Baby’ (Sparrow’s friend rapped it and made it sound like a Streets song), a riotous Tina Turner impression by the Rainbow Dragon’s girlfriend, and just how grating the Tattooed Lady’s voice was on the mic.
Oh, and my own hybrid Barry White/Billy Joel/James Ingram version of ‘Just the Way You Are’. ;-P
My wife cried the night before the wedding at that party. I cried our wedding night…
…you would too, I bet.
And so it came to pass that Sparrow and I had two weddings and a honeymoon in-between, first by a divorce lawyer, and second by the oldest man in the Anglican church.
A month after I married Sparrow, I arranged the days off for a honeymoon and the proper marriage. Sparrow flew to the Exiled Lands to plan our wedding and find a venue, and spent some time with my mother and the Lizard Man.
Our honeymoon was a road trip up the coast to the Big Sur. It was a short, cold but beautiful trip. We did a lot of hiking, and I learned how fat and out of shape I had become when I nearly had a heart attack after one long hike.
When I returned, I was asked not to go to the bi-annual trade show. They said it was because they wanted to give people who hadn’t gone before the experience. Fair enough.
It was during this time we met the Tattooed Lady, and her beautiful baby daughter. Sparrow took on a part-time job babysitting the little girl, and I helped out occasionally. Sparrow also kept herself busy volunteering for the Ogre Mage as a gallery curator up on the north side of the sprawl. Minor problems aside, we were finding balance.
The wedding came in May, and it was preceeded by a visit at the barracks by Sparrow’s mother and stepfather, as well as three of her friends. They all underestimated the seaside sun (and hole in the ozone), and had the worst sunburns in their lives within three days.
From there, we drove through the desert, stopping at the City of Sin and two nearby national parks on the way to my Mother’s house. It was another wonderful road trip through one of my favourite parts of the world.
The trip finished at our hotel, in time to be joined by the remainder of mine and Sparrow’s families. Everyone was there from my side who could make it: Sirenz and husband, my last dance partner, my uncle and family, my mother and Lizard Man, the Rainbow Dragon and his girlfriend (soon to be his wife, but we didn’t know that yet), the Tattoed Lady, and the Ogre and Ogre Mage (my father and aunt).
The Crocodile did not come because the Ogre uninvited her after a particularly bad spat. This, unfortunately, became the end of mine and Sparrow’s face-to-face dealings with her.
The ceremony was held at a tea shop, by a 90+ year old Episcopal priest. He was one of the most charming people I’ve ever met, and he brought his girlfriend. When my mother-in-law forgot the written vows, Sparrow and I panicked. But the priest came over and assuaged us in his easygoing way, and told us to follow his lead.
After the ceremony, there were many speeches, all really sweet. My brother became choked up for the first time in years in the middle of his speech.
After the ceremony, the reception was at my mother’s wonderfully large house. There was food, drink and karaoke (always a winning combination.)
Among that night’s surprises was just how good my brother’s voice was (‘gospel quality tenor’ as I told him), my mother and father dueting to ‘Always On My Mind’, my wife singing a perfect Olivia Newton-John, the funniest ever version of ‘Ice Ice Baby’ (Sparrow’s friend rapped it and made it sound like a Streets song), a riotous Tina Turner impression by the Rainbow Dragon’s girlfriend, and just how grating the Tattooed Lady’s voice was on the mic.
Oh, and my own hybrid Barry White/Billy Joel/James Ingram version of ‘Just the Way You Are’. ;-P
My wife cried the night before the wedding at that party. I cried our wedding night…
…you would too, I bet.
And so it came to pass that Sparrow and I had two weddings and a honeymoon in-between, first by a divorce lawyer, and second by the oldest man in the Anglican church.