the tinyblog

I'm back, thank you Rzan for your tireless guest posting!

This post is both a paean to the power of the sea, and a congratulations to Rachel and Andrew hamilton, who braved the power of the sea and allowed me to join them in holy matrimony.

Okay, wait, I'll go back. Rachel and Andrew decided they were getting married many months ago. So, when Rachel asked me to officiate at her wedding, I agreed, perhaps thinking she'd come to her senses sometime between talking to her parents about it and the actual even, nine months to come.

But no, May came and I got a wedding invitation. The wedding was happening up at Olympic National Park and I was still going to be becoming a licensed minister through the Universal Life Church (even though Washington State doesn't require it).

We all laughed at this sign when we saw it on the beach...but that was before we experienced the beach. People like me who live on the Puget Sound (the little baby arm of the Pacific Ocean Seattle rests on) forget why people write long sad songs about how the sea took their baby from them.

Nearly all of us got taken unawares by the power of the sea. You'll be sitting there on the beach watching wave after wave wash up many feet ahead of you, and then suddenly it comes up ten times farther than it did before, and your legs are soaked. I can't tell you how many fires we built on the beach those first two nights that got swallowed up by a sea that didn't give a crap about our puny little lives.

The beach logs were convenient after the first night of rain. They seem so stable, you can climb around on them all day. But once the mighty sea gets hold of one of them, it can effortlessly glide these several-ton hunks around like hockey pucks. We learned quickly that it was the sea who was boss.

But in the meantime, the event finally came to a head, and I, for the first time, looked two people in the eye and told them (with a snap and a flourish) that they were husband and wife, and it was time to kiss the bride. How fun!

Good food, good music, good partying, good company. Thanks to everyone, the crazy New Yorkers and all who came to celebrate, the family, and all my sweet friends. It was truly a good time and I come back deeply humbled and mellowed from the sea.