Weird Wedding

First, I wanted to let you know that the Anteaters got their asses handed to them by Fullerton last night, so another year passes without UCI in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

A good friend of mine (let's call him Neil) got married yesterday. Neil's my age and I've known him since high school. He joined the air force after high school (his dad was in the service) and came back a bit frazzled. Neil found a good job, battled the bottle a bit, but then met Lisa. They met in a bar, natch, and she manages a big restaurant. The wife and I have double-dated with them and they are clearly a good match. Interestingly, after the first time I met her, Neil tells me, "She doesn't mind swearing, except god-damnit and fuck." OK, whatever, everyone has their limits. I later noticed she wore a easily noticed cross and had a funky tattoo on her right calf.

Their original wedding date was in the fall, but they had to reschedule so she wouldn't be either 9 mos pregnant or nursing during the ceremony. I guess they wanted to get the baby thing out of the way....or not.

The ceremony was at a Calvary church, so figured it would be on the conservative side. It was weird that the ceremony seemed very canned and the minister had a creepy "just drank the kool-aid" look on his face. Lisa's dad walks her down the aisle. He wears a mid-60s buzz cut and when asked who is giving away the bride, he responds like replying to and order, "I am." Then, he walks back to his seat. No hug, peck on the cheek or anything.

The Jim Jones follower goes through some VERY conservative wedding vows. She gets to do everything to support him (the only word left out was obey) and he gets to be the leader. I looked at my wife and said, "She just agreed to be his third base coach."

After the ceremony, we chit-chatted a bit with some friends, then my wife took the HB to rehearsal and I headed to the reception. Everyone had some drinks then made our way to the dinner hall. There, they ran through all the wedding traditionals, bouquet throw, garter, cutting of the cake, etc. Then it comes to the father-bride dance.

You'd think that he was the 6 y.o. being forced to dance with his 90 y.o. aunt. They stood about 3 ft from each other and didn't say a word through the whole song. The music stops and, like at the ceremony, he walks right back to his seat.

Later, I ask the best man if the guy was a marine sergeant. He say, "Not marines, but I think about that rank in the army." If they have a girl, I hope that Neil has a better relationship with her.

So, here's to Neil and Lisa. To a life of love, happiness and peace.