I returned earlier this evening from Utica, New York,
to attend the wedding of a couple of friends. I drove up with a
friend on Friday morning, and on the way a we met up with some of the
other local gang in Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The weather on the way up and in Cooperstown was positively horrible:
misty, rainy, with a nice steady rain falling later in the
afternoon.
Saturday was the day of the wedding. Of course, the weather
started out much as it had all week: gray and drizzly. Mother
Nature even helped make sure that no one was spared just before the
wedding, dousing us with a nice downpour. The ceremony--a wedding
ceremony of the long, Catholic variety--was held in a small beautiful
church: St. Helena's Church in Sherril, New York. I was actually surprised that it did not take nearly as long as I had feared.
About half-way through the ceremony, though, something rather poignant
happened. The clouds had finally broken, and the sun began
shining through the back of the church, brightening interior of the
church for the rest of the ceremony. If memory serves, it
occurred just before the couple exchanged their vows. When we
left the church and walked through the receiving line, the weather was
bright and sunny outside. How fitting that as my two friends
married, the gloomy weather would end and the sun would be bright on
their friends' and families' faces. I did not truly realize how
both poetic and beautiful that image was until this evening.
The evening was spent partaking in the usual wedding reception
revelry--drinks, dancing, and conversation. It was a good
time. It was also then that I realized how incredibly fortunate I
am. I am very lucky to have these people I call my friends.
Of course, these friends are not merely the ones I celebrated with this
weekend. My network of great friends extends back to college,
back to high school, and even earlier than that. It also includes
those friends I have made in the last few years. It is these
great friends that I can celebrate with in the good times and
commiserate with in the bad times. I can only hope that I can be
as good a friend to them as all of them have been to me. I am
truly a fortunate person.
Time for bed, as I need to take my newlywed friends to the airport tomorrow to begin their honeymoon.
11:59:27 PM 
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