Greasy and Cheesy

And now, word from our sponsor….

While I’ve been looking forward to channeling Shug Avery from the movie, The Color Purple since Mark and I decided to marry, I have to concede that the quote that appears in yesterday’s post title is not entirely appropriate.

Shug hurls that line at her estranged preacher father in the film as he is driving past her on the street. He has disowned her because of her immorality, and she hopes that her new status as a married woman will allow her back into her father’s heart. Mark and I, however, have never felt that we were outcast from your hearts. When I say, “I’s married now,” I say it not to try to add legitimacy to our relationship but to celebrate that we can name our relationship. Thank you, all, for your kind comments and good wishes.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog….

So yesterday, we had an 8 a.m. appointment to get our license at the San Diego County Administration building. No time yet for sleeping in on this vacation. It was a surprisingly easy process. We had already downloaded and completed the application, so we only had to check in, meet with an administrator who entered our information into the county’s system, verify that the info was correct, and give them seventy bucks. Easy peasy.

After our appointment, Kevin, Mark, and I had breakfast at a greasy spoon called “Perry’s.” You know how much I like greasy spoons. This one was very “70s truckstop.” Jeff had to put in some time at work, so he missed the glory that is Perrys, but he was able to meet us later at Pacific Beach.

We spent an hour or so walking around and watching surfers.

We grabbed lunch (I had only some tortilla chips; I’m truly overeating on this trip and need to slow down!), and then headed home to get ready for the wedding. We had asked to Kevin order a grocery-store cake for us, just as a symbolic thing, and he and Jeff bought us a bottle of champagne.

The cake, of course, went a little awry—”Congratulations” didn’t quite fit on the small cake, so the “tions” got a little mushed—but it was very good. (I’m having another piece now.) Kevin and Jeff’s friend, Rob, married us in their back yard. Rob’s partner, Pete, was supposed to be in China, but his flight was delayed, so he was able to join us and to record the ceremony while Kevin took photos. I’m looking forward to getting the video.

Everything went just as I hoped except that during my vows, I choked and forgot what I had planned to say. I knew it would happen, and I knew where in my vows it would happen. Fortunately, I had the vows with me on my iPhone. After a quick check, I was able to get rolling again. Mark was tearing up, as was I, but I was surprised to hear later that Pete was teary, too. We’d only met Pete 10 minutes before. He and his partner are getting married in June.

We relaxed at the house (Kevin and Jeff’s house is lovely—very open, but also very homey) for a while, then went to dinner. Kevin had been so nice earlier in the day driving us from restaurant to restaurant to try to find where we wanted to have our wedding dinner. Unfortuntately, none looked like places i would be able to eat—too foofy—so I went online and found a well-reviewed but much more casual placed called “Urban Solace.” Rob, I found out later, knew the place and liked their food, but he had had a falling out with one of the owners years ago and hadn’t been there for some time. He insisted, though, that we stick to our plan, and in the end, all of us were really happy with our meals. The owner was off last night.

I’ll catch you up on today’s events during my flight to Seattle tomorrow. Thanks for sticking with me.