accidental occupations
today nena came over to write with me. the title was weddings, which should have been inspiring but wasn't, for reasons that wearry me even to contemplate. but i did write a bit piece about my accidental occupation of wedding officiate.
a few years ago i happened to be at a wedding across the state line, and happened to mention that they should have asked me to marry them, beings that my friend boog had given me a license as reverend of the universal life church for my 21st birthday. the bride laughed me off, until 24 hours later, when she called sobbing to ask if i was joking. seems the judge they'd asked to officiate hadn't thought through the part about the wedding being across the river and therefore in another state. he didn't have jurisdiction there. this came to him three hours before the wedding.
luckily the bride and groom were lawyers, as were about 500 of the wedding guests, and they quickly determined that even if i was joking, the license was valid, and thus began my ministry into nuptial formations.
an aunt lent me a brown tunic and skirt (my red dress just wouldn't do, said the wedding planner). a little jack daniels lent me confidence. and about the time i remembered this wasn't really about me at all, and i could therefore stop hyperventilating, the wedding began.
it was a beautiful thing.
since then i've done 8 or 9 more, and for these i've been involved early on, writing the ceremonies and getting to know what it is the couple is looking for in a wedding. each has been different, and at each i have felt profoundly honored to be included in such an intensely personal and powerful time.
if nothing else, weddings are about love and hope in a world of heartless reason and impossible odds.
and there's something to like about that.
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