Oberjoyed

So, I went to this wedding yesterday that was just about perfect. I inadvertently missed the ceremony (TACKY!) due to unusually large volumes of southbound traffic around Hampton N.H. (Who would've thought? I was busy inwardly laughing at all the travelers stuck in northbound traffic.) I made it in time to catch them at the church, and we proceeded to Aldrich Mansion (where "Meet Joe Black" was filmed) for the reception. There was so much love in the room, I felt that I could approach a complete stranger and realize that we had some sort of connection. And, that sort of did happen. I met the neighbors of my boss from the music festival I interned at last summer. I saw lots of undergraduate friendlets (two of them were popping-out pregnant) and my rockin' former apartmentmates, one of which was the bride. Her middle name is Joy, and as of yesterday, her last name is Ober, hence "Oberjoyed".

The Ralph Lauren-like color scheme of pale pink and light celadon green was perfectly carried out from the bridesmaids dresses of baby pink with a green sash, to the pink cummerbund and bowtie the bride's father wore, the pink and green homemade candies placed in the bathrooms and on the tables, the table numbers, to the adorable outfits the guests of honor wore as they left the party - the bride in a J.Crew "Sophia" dress in jade, and the groom in a blue button-down dress shirt, dress khakis, with a green bowtie. They danced to "This Will Be An Everlasting Love" before they were swept away in their limo to who-knows-where for the night. A honeymoon in France will follow. Personal touches were everywhere; the bride's mother made the beautiful and amazingly yummy cake (white with pink and green polka-dot seams, of course), and her aunt supplied cookies from her award-winning greater Boston area shop of goodness: Lakota Bakery.

The cocktail hour was on an outdoor terrace that boasted a stunning view of the ocean. It actually rained very briefly during dinner (while everyone was inside, of course) only to be followed by a majestic rainbow that stretched over the ocean. We could actually see its whole arch (and the pot of gold at the end, too).

This wedding put a lot of things in perspective for me. I am close to the mid-point of the music festival I'm both playing in and working at. (The festival will from here on out be referred to as "band camp", the festival participants as "campers", and the director as the "band leader".) It's nice to be around so many musicians I think, however, attending this wedding was such a nice reprieve. The amount of joy and celebration was so tangible that it drowned out all the notes that have emerged from my practice room in the last couple weeks.

To top it all off, while driving home, I heard "Amazing 80s" on an ambitious Rhode Island radio station. Included was U2's "New Year's Day", Madonna's "Express Yourself", and Taylor Dayne's "Don't Rush Me". On a different set, I also heard Collective Soul's "Shine", and I graciously provided an echo to every line the song. It truly sounded horrendous, but that didn't stop me; I continued throughout the whole darn thing. I also supplied a one-armed interpretive dance to Everything But the Girl's "Like the Deserts Miss the Rain". I contemplated pulling over so I could use both hands but reluctantly decided it wasn't worth it. It doesn't get much better than that, folks.