My Time as a Human

The sunlight splashed yellow and orange streaks across the clouds as they rippled and tumbled away across the sky, slowly turning dark and thick until the pale blue background began to force its way through. Beside me sat a girl with white streaks through her hair like the clouds. Our legs dangled over the back of a deceptively nondescript minivan as she sang children’s yoga songs. Her voice was full and beautiful with sincerity and, occasional, a light humorous tone just teasing the top of the dark notes. Day had arrived.

The wedding guests who had bothered to go to sleep began to emerge from tents, trucks and vans. Many were already cleaning up chairs and tables. Others were removing the last of their clown makeup or swapping tutus for cargo pants. Just outside the gate I was introduced to the bride’s mother and her mother’s boyfriend, Zack.

Zack turned out to be an engineer and a kindred spirit in our nonsensical love of old British rag top sports cars. It’s a rare and glorious moment when I get to flash my giant brass MG belt buckle and get any response whatsoever. He’d actually owned a whole series of them, like a junkie who never learns a lesson. The older those cars get the more driving becomes a tap-dance of thumping and shaking to get gauges and lights working. You never get them all at once so you have to prioritize: headlights at night and speedometer during the day.

“You know, I really had a great time last night,” Zack said. “I met so many wonderful people and everyone was really enjoying themselves. I’m 71 now. I think when I go home I’m going to give my notice and retire.” He looked past me at an old silver airstream trailer as a purple haired woman emerged. “What year do you think that is? ‘59?”

On top of being fed fruit from a bowl on someone’s head and watching the launch of a series of high altitude fire balloons, my night was filled with a wide array of discussions ranging from healthcare, dance, active speaker calibration, potential collaboration with my film work, and an extremely detailed telling of the most incredible acoustic performance of all time. The one conversation that came up repeatedly, however, was how magic this couple was together.

Some wedding ceremonies are simply eclipsed by the surety that I have when I see the couple together. My eyes were tearing even as they went through their vows, including “and I will call you on your shit…” I have seen these two fight and turn it around with not just incredible speed, but grace and humor. I’ve seen them love and support each other and have plenty left over for their community and friends. I’ve seen her raising the child next door as an wonderfully confident and skilled nanny, and I can’t wait to see what kind of child they raise together when the time comes.

For me, it feels comforting just knowing that a union like this one exists. As much as I need to roam, it’s strong relationships like these that let me leave assured that everything will be just fine when I get back.

Wedding photographs by Ori Sofer

Posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 1:00 am under Uncategorized.
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