Feel the love

A good portion of the last two weekends have been spent devoted to the celebratory arts, specifically those of the matrimonial nature, more specifically the marriage of my friends Jeff and Tara.

The wedding was this weekend, but the previous weekend found myself and the lads downtown hoisting multitudes of pints to Jeff's honor. Drinks were bought, backs were slapped, conversations were slurred, etc. I think it's safe to say we celebrated our friend quite soundly.

The next night was the ladies' turn to party, so I had the day to get past my hangover and be ready to take on both the kids solo. I've watched them both on my own before, and I've put each of them down to sleep separately, but I had never before been given the challenge of putting both of them down to sleep without any backup. I'm proud to report that my first evening of putting both kids down was a rousing success. There's nothing quite like getting one of your fatherhood duties right to put a little kick in your step.

And then the wedding. Sadly, The Ash could not attend because she was representing at her niece's wedding, which meant that I didn't get to see everybody fawn over Henry and Simon's matching outfits, nor did I get to see Henry dance his over-sugared little head off. But still, I think I got the better end of the deal. May I just toss out an observation? Weddings are a thousand times more fun when it's friends tying the knot rather than family. Family functions can be enjoyable, sure, but when it's your friends at the center of it, when you're able to celebrate among people you've actually chosen to associate with and your only duty is to be the person they know you to be, well then that's the kind of event where I keep finding myself thinking "Damn! I'm glad I'm here!" over and over and over again. There was a really nice moment near the end of the night where someone decided to get a picture of all the friends in attendance. There were several people who, for whatever reason, were not certain that their social standing among the group merited picture inclusion, but everyone started yelling for them to get their asses into the picture. It was just one of those nights where you could feel the love.