Wedding Season

We have two weddings in our family this year - less than a month apart from each other. The 2nd one I mentioned recently - my father-in-law's wedding next month.

Last night though, was the wedding for Surfer Pirate's "surrogate" brother - the one who talked us into moving to Northern Middle of Nowhere, ND. He and his fiancee made it official last night in a beautiful ceremony.

It reminded me that I'm a big sap.

The last wedding I went to was for some friends of mine in Montana - just days after my first miscarriage. I was there because I loved them and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. But I was sad and very focused on my own problem while putting on a happy face for them. Before that, the last wedding I had attended was... Mine. So this was the first chance I'd had to relive the love and sentiment of a wedding.

I cried little happy tears a LOT this weekend!

Surfer Pirate was a groomsman, so I sat without him during the ceremony and the dinner, but that didn't change the emotion of the whole thing. The pastor did a wonderful job talking about how marriage means that you put the other person's needs and wants before your own (something I know he personally does - his wife is a friend of mine). I sat in the church looking at my sweet husband (or rather, the back of his head), thinking about how well he takes care of me and what a good man he is. I thought back to our wedding day and how Surfer Pirate looked at me that day and how much in love we were. I thought about how much we still love each other and the great life we've made together. And I thought about our two friends and how far they've come together and how happy and peaceful their wedding felt.

But my two favorite parts of the wedding were seeing Surfer Pirate in his tux, and the dancing with him after dinner.

I really wish I could show you how good he looked in his tux, complete with PINK tie and vest! If you knew him in person, you would know how insanely opposite that is for him. But he loves his surrogate brother and was willing to put aside his own issues with being that dressed up (and wearing pink) for him. It was very selfless and sweet and OH MY GOODNESS did he look amazing! (My facebook friends have probably already seen the pictures, and B, I'll email you some pictures so you can see too.)

And the dance! I had looked forward to dancing with my hubby. We haven't had a date night in forever, and there aren't many options of places to go around our little town. The first dance was, of course, the bride and groom, then they had a wedding party dance that was hysterical! There were 3 flower girls and 3 ring bearers, but two of them had already gone home - all day of pictures and preparation + no naps = crabby children. But the remaining 4 stole the show - especially the boys! One of the boys had already introduced everyone to his special Stomp Dance* earlier, and the whole bridal party participated for the first part of the song. Then, the kids took over the floor, the boys doing fun break-dancing and there were even cartwheels! Soon, we were dragged out to the floor for the Chicken Dance (which I've never actually done before) and the Hokey Pokey. Normally, I wouldn't have been a part of either of those, but Surfer Pirate's surrogate dad is so incredibly funny and everyone was having so much fun that it was easy to let go of your own embarrassment and just have a great time!

*aka: jumping up and down really hard

We needed to leave early because Pirate Baby is coming down with a cold and Surfer Pirate had some things he needed to take care of for his health, so our surrogate sister arranged for the dj to play Our Song (it's also her song with her hubby). So I got to slow dance with my gorgeous husband and then we even ended up staying on the floor for the Anniversary Dance. They let us dance to that song briefly, and then asked everyone who had been married more than 5 years to continue dancing while the rest of us left the floor. Then they kept adding time until there were only 3 couples left. The one couple had been married for 33 years (I think - might have been 34), and the other two couples had both been married for 36 years!

It was all a very sweet and romantic night. I was reminded of how wonderful my marriage is and how grateful I am for the life I live with my wonderful family (both related and non-related).



And I also found out that our local baker makes AMAZING cake. Mmmmmm... cake...