White Weddings

I spent the weekend in Boston, and it was very good to be back there - it's been too long. Of all the places that I have lived, Boston is by far my favorite. I love the European feel to it and the wonderful green spaces, especially in the fall. While it was not peak foliage this early in the season, the colors were magnificent and the weather could not have been better. I didn't have time to launch out into the River Charles in my kayak like old times, nor stroll along the esplanade - but perhaps next time.

However, I was not just there to sight-see, I was there for a purpose - the wedding of two of my best friends: Jon Burns and Allison Flintoff. In fact, I was a big part of their wedding - I was the officiant. I arrived at South Station Friday evening and was whisked away by Jon and Scotty (who was pulling "best man" duty) to complete the last of several pre-wedding errands. We dropped Scott at his place north of the city, where I met the smallest and newest member of the Yaffe clan - baby Camille - for the first time. VERY cute! After that we went back to Jon and Allie's place to talk through the ceremony one more time, at which time I signed their marriage license, making them technically married. We celebrated with a pizza and several episodes of Survivorman, since none of us could sleep.

The following day (wedding day) was beautiful and, after seeing Allison off to go do whatever it is that brides do before weddings, we menfolk did... well... manstuff. Mostly we just drank coffee and reminisced about old times - pretty wild huh? The wedding was at a golf resort in Wakefield, so we went up and checked into the hotel early with Bucklee (dog and ringbearer) in tow. We had instructions to tire Bucklee out as much as possible, so that he wouldn't be too hyper at the ceremony - so all dog play was official wedding business.

Eventually it was time to say the "I do's" and... we did. Allison made a very beautiful bride and everyone looked great. Jared and Corey (Allison's brother) provided the acoustic guitar accompaniment for the ceremony, and Allison walked down the aisle to her favorite Pearl Jam song, though I doubt many people recognized it without the head-banging overtones. Thankfully, Bucklee did not eat the rings and yours truly did not fumble any lines of the ceremony. In all, it was a smashing success!

The only comment I'll make about the reception (which was truly elegant, fun and low-key), is that I have never had better food at a wedding. Allison is a vegisaur like me, so most everything (except the prime rib) was vegetarian. It was all tres-yummy and I certainly ate too much, but danced some of it off. We ended up hanging out back at the hotel until about midnight. Afterwards, since Jared and I were bunking together, we decided to rent a movie - NO, Not that kind! Actually we watched the Fantastic Four movie with the Silver Surfer. I fell asleep half way through, but had nice dreams about Jessica Alba.

We slept late Sunday and I ended up hanging out with Jared, Corey and Katie. We returned the PA system to Daddy's Junky then it was time for me to return to the big apple. I made Jared stop at Faneuil Hall on the way back to South Station, so that I could pick up a couple of new RedSox hats - mine has been biodegrading for a while and was in sore need of replacement. That done, I jumped on a bus for the ride back to NYC. I arrived home to find Mr. Squeaky the Mouse unharmed and happy to see me - and here I am at the start of another work week.

Congratulations to Jon and Allison - many happy returns!