Yesterday was a good day. I made a conscious decision to steal the entire day for myself. Seriously. A whole day.
Rose from my slumbers (surprisingly early) and tootled over to Zingerman’s deli. Got the salmon on a bagel, and a big glass of coffee. I proceeded to read another hundred pages or so in the monstrous tome that will be defeated by me. Read in particular about Martin Luther and his propensity for irritating The Man. Sounds like a real hell-raiser – so to speak.
Then I made my way across town in a big, vague, circumambulation. Stopped off at at least three “used and rare” book stores – finding a couple of small treasures. Also stopped off to touch the wall of the Bell Tower hotel, where my mom – for no reason we’ve been able to figure out – encountered the Dalai Lama by the lobby elevator. That chance encounter changed the trajectory of both her life and mine … so I like to wander past when I have the time.
Made my way to the Diag and picked a promising bench. The bell tower was chiming noon, and I decided to sit and try to settle my mind until 1pm. Failing that – I would just sit in the park and watch the world go by. At one point one of the 10lb diag squirrels informed me (from about a foot away) that it was traditional to feed the squirrels. For luck. At least, that’s what I took him to be saying. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any spare food with me.
As the bell tower rang the end of my thinking-thoughts period, a couple fo Latter Day Saints evangelists wandered up to me. They can’t have been more than 22 years old … despite the title of “Elder” that they both wore. We had a nice chat about their beliefs (real, physical, male god – truth revealed through Jesus, corrupted by man, re-revealed later … but I sorta knew that). They asked about my beliefs – so I did my best to explain the four noble truths of Buddhism. Since they had mentioned that they’re a faith that believes in self improvement through thought and study – I leaned on that part a bit. We parted on good terms.
Went to Meijer and bought new toiletries. Came back to the hotel and found my toiletry kit, fallen by the side of the bed. Rasafracka. Suited up and headed to the wedding.
Wedding was beautiful. Dave and Mandy bring together a fun mix of people. Basically, the whole LJ crowd was there – I won’t even attempt a listing. Readings were read from the Bible, from Rush, and from Anne of Green Gables. We sang. We affirmed our assent with the somewhat nontraditional “so say we all.” Props to both bride and groom for sticking to your guns and designing a highly personal, inclusive, yet moving and dignified ceremony.
Then onward to the reception. Dancing, some of it with bride and groom on chairs held up on our shoulders. Singing. Frisbee. Food – sneakily all vegan. I liked that bit – no muss, no fuss, and no snitty little signs – but everything on offer was vegan friendly. Now that’s how to be a thoughtful host.
I found myself drawing more and more inward, and feeling no urge whatsoever to dominate conversation and make people look at me. I was – for lack of a better word – very deeply happy and content. I simply sat with a social group of accepting and intelligent people, and existed with them. How wonderful.
Finally, at the end of the night, mcniadh and I were among the last to leave. Perhaps dead last except for the waitstaff. We had parked next to each other, and wound up tooling down the twisty bits of some back road together. I had decided to put “Fireflies” by Owl City on the stereo to drive me home. As we pulled up to the light where I would go left and he would go right – it came to the second verse. We looked at each other through the open car windows and shared one last smile. Heading into the refrain, the light turned green and we went our separate ways.
“To ten million fireflies, I’m weird ’cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell.
But I’ll know where several are, if my dreams get real bizarre,
Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar.”
–EDIT–
Fine, I’m stuck at the airport. Here’s the list of LJ people I saw: _earthshine_, capital_l, logangrey, mcniadh, rev_e, rossja, simianpower, technolope. Also, it was a de-facto meeting of the rvnn, but that’s TOP SECRET.
