The Wedding Of Toad And Bayou Bill
Salutations and what's up. My tour de Iowa takes me back to my hometown of Cedar Falls, once again, and this time I'm writing on the olde family computer. No fancy-schmancy pirated wireless for me tonight, I'm afraid. Not quite worth the effort, what being it's 1:12 AM in the morning and all. Anyway, tis a very peaceful evening, not that cloudy, not that warm. Quite pleasent really. No, really!
Anyway, I was in town for Amy's wedding, which took place this afternoon. And I must say, it went off without a hitch! Wait, actually, that's probably not the right thing to say when discussing a wedding. What I meant was, it went quite well, and they certainly did get married. And besides the bizarre train that went by just as the pastor was starting his sermon, everything went beautifully. Including the music, of course!! I actually had a lot of fun doing the music, it was pretty nice to just sit there in the shade, as people walked by, playing light piano music and all. And then I sang a couple solos, one of which was my song "As It Is." I still find it tremendously flattering that Amy and Bill wanted me to play a song I wrote at their wedding, even if it is one of my quirkier numbers. The only minor issue was the lack of microphone stand for me (since it's rather hard to hold a microphone while playing piano simultaneously, I mean I've done it before but you really don't want to know what I did man), but luckily I had brought a Rainey along, and she did a pretty decent job as a stand-in mic stand. Not to mention she ran back to my parents' place to grab the sustain pedal, since I'm a dork and forgot to load it in my bag with everything else. Girlfriends can be pretty cool sometimes, man. Especially when they're generous beyond rationalization.
That said, it was a very interesting experience. Between Amy and Q, I have now seen two very good friends (and former Cuppers, no less) get married, going off on grand new adventures in their lives, etc. It's very strange. Marriage amongst my peers is certainly nothing new (the first friend's wedding I went to was John and Emilie Bostwick, which was back in December '99), but it's definitely becoming more frequent, and either way, it's always amazing to watch a good friend get married. Just because, you knew them back when they were still searching for the right person, seeking that capital one you know, and to then be sitting there watching them make a riduculously noble commitment to this capital one is really incredible. (Well, hopefully it's the capital one at least.) I often look down on a lot of people my age who get married, just because I worry it's not for any reason other than security or fear of rejection, but all misguided cynicism aside, it's just amazing that two people really do take such a ridiculous plunge, to spend the rest of their lives together. It's just amazing. Now, my own views on weddings in general, and whether or not I'll ever be a part of them, can be saved for a different entry. Tonight, I extend my congratulations and tremendous well wishes to Amy and Bill Charlton, and hope that their ensuing lives together will be as exciting as The Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, that's right.
Anyway, I must be off now. Tomorrow I'm spending some good ol' family time with. . . the family. We're doing the annual 1776 viewing in the evening, which will be exciting. Tour de Iowa will take me to Cedar Rapids on Monday, for fireworks and food and Rainey and my brother (I hope). And then I'm heading back to Minnesota on Tuesday. But never fear! I'll be back here once again, real soon! Because I don't really live in Minnesota anymore!! In fact, I don't really know where I live by now! Oh Brad, isn't it nuts??
Sayonara, suckers.