together (at last)

I don’t make my way to many wedding celebrations any more. People my age don’t change their marital status much. They may disengage, but I rarely get to see the re-engage part.

When my colleague, Ann, announced her plan to marry (and soon at that), I put her (and her partner/fiancé) down to being hopelessly romantic. Our planet is short on that category. Most are hopelessly confused. Bravo Ann for avoiding confusion.


Family. You don’t have to tell me it’s formed in many ways. And when it all comes together in one room, you have a chaotic splendidness that's positively enthralling.

Vignettes of family life. I had it there, right before me, at the Westside Community Farmers Market early this morning. Mother daughter, father daughter.















And I had it at a wedding celebration later in the day. Ed’s friends, after many many years together (she wanted a cake with the words: it’s about time, but the bakery refused), formalized their splendid union and threw a party.





Family poured in from far and wide and all I could do is watch and admire.















I thought – if you leap forward because you are romantically inclined and you have the support of friends or family, chances are you’ll do okay.





















But maybe you’re the loner type? The kind that prefers to read the Portable Curmudgeon alone in a café. The kind that perhaps finds all this family and marriage stuff unnecessary?





Oh, sure, sometimes it’s fun to stand alone.





But as for independence over partnership and family? I can’t agree with you. I’m too enthralled with the joys of togetherness. Young and old.