Whelp! We are experiencing heat lightening this evening. For all of you naysayers about the existence of heat lightening, I am here to tell you that it is real because I can see both stars and electricity in the sky and NOAA's radar (my very official monitor of all things weather related) is staunch and determined to tell me that there is a 0% chance of precipitation or stormage of any kind for the next 5 days. Yes, that is right, 0%. Unbelievable. I love this summer.
I just arrived back in Montana from Rochester New York where the 100% humidity returned my hair to the steamy, fluffy, uncontrolled midwestern life it once knew. Upon landing in Rochester, the vents in the fuselage of my airplane began to emit what I was pretty sure was smoke. My wilderness survival professor's voice echoed through my head "if you have any kind of collision with anything, and you are in an airplane, GET OUT." So I began to irrationally tick through all of the things we could've possibly collided with, and contemplated how much time I was wasting contemplating when I could've been heading for the exit doors. My wide-eyed contemplation must have struck a chord with the woman next to me, who turned, put her hand on my shoulder and said "honey, it's just condensation." Oh my god. I hate humidity for a new reason. I'm glad that my panic was quiet and only exposed by my big ol eyeballs. I'm nearly incapable of containing my emotions at most times so I'm celebrating my restraint.
Also, the plane didn't blow up. Win.
So why was I in rochester, you wonder? Whelp! Adam and Emily got hitched! Sort of. In their own way. It was the best celebration of two people that I have ever been to. They like to describe their shared lifestyle as "living with intention" and I believe that their ceremony was at the core of this belief and a good start to the rest of their lives together. They incorporated their vegan and commuter biking lifestyles into their service, they exchanged stories (rather than vows) that were touching, thoughtful, and personal. I think that the most beautiful thing about all of it was how simple it all was.
There were no ugly dresses and tuxes, no overpriced and under-satisfying banquet meals, no seating schedules, tacky DJs, no collection of cheesy impersonal vows, or incessant clanking of glasses. It was beautiful, simple, and fun! It was what a wedding should be.
I loved it for making me realize that weddings should be meaningful to the people that are celebrating, and the people being celebrated. As a guest I was grateful not to be shoved into some round table with strangers, made to eat bad food, made to listen to bad music, and to be given no time to really speak to the bride and groom at all. I felt well cared for as a guest at emily and adam's ceremony and I felt like I was partaking in something thoughtful and fun. Even entertaining!
The way that Americans conventionally celebrate weddings is often without meaning, and without, as Adam and Emily might say, intention. I was struck, this weekend, by the fact that weddings have become mechanized and commercialized. And tacky. I found their ceremony, complete with a bicycle procession and vegan cupcakes, to be refreshing and fun! And totally them. It was perfect.
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