Dearly Beloved

Kayleigh and I drove out to Whidbey Island on Saturday for JD's wedding. It was a beautiful, simple, traditional ceremony presided over by JD's dad (one of the benefits of being a preacher's kid, I guess). It was good to meet some of Alison's relatives, who had flown in from England. Nice folks. And an honor to be on the very small guest list!

I won't deny that there were moments of acute emotional discomfort. I think it would have been impossible to attend a wedding - my first since Sam died - without thinking of my own situation. You're supposed to reflect on your own marital state at a wedding, after all. I didn't let any of the pain show. The day was not about me or my path - it was about JD and Alison and the start of their life together, and I would never display anything but my utmost support and love. And once again, the stuff I felt was not about missing Sam specifically - it was about missing what I shared with her. That whole business of being married and together and forming the giant robot, becoming greater than the sum of our individual parts. It was just tough, some parts.

JD met Alison when he was hauling bodies for a local funeral parlor (she's a nurse), and my been-through-hell dark sense of humor was given a high-five when JD toasted the dead guy over whom they'd met. Wouldn't that be a cool legacy, to know that your final act was to bring two people together who would fall in love? That would be the best.

The day was beautiful, the couple top-notch, and the ferry rides were brief respites in a very long and emotionally draining day.