-Insert Clever Title Here-

oh wait, damn, i should have used ‘Friday I’m In Love’. the last couple of weeks have been filled with details. we had a trip planned to visit my parents in northern Michigan last weekend and at the last minute decided to be married at the courthouse there. it has been a long and complicated journey since we got engaged, although the answers were simple and unexpected (that is a whole different post).

we left from Seattle on a red-eye (thank you drugs) and arrived in Traverse City at 10:00am. weather in Traverse City at this time of year is typically what they call “Indian Summer”. it’s fairly warm (70s) and still sunny out. this is what the weather was like until the day we arrived and were greeted by Seattle winter weather. pouring sheets of icy cold rain. i believe the temperature hovered in the 30-40s. we went to the courthouse, filled out the paperwork and voila, at 4pm that day we had ourselves a marriage license. i searched in vain for something to wear. if you are not familiar with this area of Michigan, the shopping is dismal. i had brought a dress that now seemed hardly appropriate with the weather forecast and i hate to be cold. (hence, why i moved away from Michigan in the first place).

this is the first time we have seen my mother and step father’s home in its current state. it sits in a rural area about 30 minutes from Traverse City on 15 acres of wooded land. i was impressed at how much work they had done. it literally was like having your own private nature reserve, complete with blazingly bright blue jays, a resident fuzzy black squirrel family, deer and turkeys. i can’t help but feel happy, not only to see my parents (yes, i actually like spending time with these people) but to think about the fact that in Seattle areas like this are called ‘public parks’. and here, i don’t have to share it with anyone else.

next morning the rain is even worse! we make it to the courthouse on time, wait in a small courtroom filled with yellow files. the magistrate came in and advised that the ceremony was a short one (fine with us). we both were just hoping there would be no comments like “god bless you”,”do you promise to clean the house and take care of him?”,”man and wife”, etc. don’t think i am being paranoid for no reason at all, i wouldn’t worry had i not heard these statements at other weddings. thankfully, it was very sweet and brief. the words are so cliched, and yet, it’s hard to anticipate how much meaning they have in that moment. it was very powerful and the years we have spent together were impressed upon me in a new way.