bassline

I'm liking my new domestic life. Really. It's an ever-evolving life that holds surprises every day. it's not just me living here and that has been the biggest difference. The next one is that we're going to be living together for a long time, so it's just better to get used to the changes that seem to happen every day. Not that I've had a problem wiith most of them, but getting used to sharing space with someone you're still getting to know is an adventure.

A comedian on Comedy Central that I like has a line about relationships that goes something like, and I'm paraphrasing liberally here, "A relationship is something like a business transaction. You live with someone or let someone move in with you and it's more like a hostile takeover. I should know because a lot of my stuff didn't make it through the merger". That's a line I understand much better now. A few of my things have not survived the life merger with E. Though, honestly, I cried no tears for the old iron pan that had begun to rust and I hadn't used in years. The same for the old spatulas and...well whatever else I've forgotten about. My kitchen has gotten a lot more colorful since E has a thing for color-laden kitchen utensil and bowls.

More than a few times, I've wondered out loud why we needed a new this or that but deep inside, I actually like having all of the new stuff. I'm a guy who was used to living with just the bare necessities-a pot or two and a good, sturdy frying pan. With a few bowls, dishes, and a very mis-matched bunch of cutlery, I was pretty much set. I had what I needed and not much more. It usually took a looooong time before I replaced anything. Now, all of my old silverware and dishes have been relegated to back-up status since we've purchased new sets. I'm easing up on replacing things that I know need replacing instead of falling back on my usual, "The bowl's got a chip in it, but I can still use it...", hahaha...

It's been over a couple of months and I'm just getting used to where my socks and underwear are stored now...

River View I
A view of the Schyulkill River from behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That's Boathouse Row in the distance on the right.

It's been quite a week. Mainly getting used to saying that I have a 'wife' now. Both E and I have been joking about how odd it seems that we're now 'husband and wife'. It's been good, though. Our ceremony was small, short and sweet. It was so casual that I forgot to put on my suit jacket before the actual ceremony began.

We decided to get married in a hotel room we had at the Park Hyatt-Philadelphia instead of City Hall. A few weeks before the date, I found a celebrant who happened to be a former co-worker. I found out that she'd become a minister some years back. She was more than happy to marry us and was a tremendous help. It was also nice to be married by someone that at least one of us knew.

As I mentioned above, the affair was small but very meaningful. I had two of my closest friends in attendance and we had another doing video for us. That was it. Everything went off without a hitch. Our celebrant, Sheryl, arrived and led us through a little relaxing exercise of deep breathing to introduce some calm into the moment and things proceeded from there. As the ceremony began, E and I were standing face-to-face holding hands when I realized the lack of my suit jacket. I mouthed to her "I forgot my jacket". We shared a silent laugh as things continued.

Sheryl did a reading from The Bridges of Madison County, E and I exchanged our self-written vows and placed our rings. E read an Eskimo love poem to me and I recited a short passage to her. As a symbol of our merging into marriage, we lit two candles which we used to light a third. That was it. The whole thing worked out pretty much as we envisioned it. We had a toast before heading out to dinner. A little later, we returned to the hotel room and had cake for dessert-a white chocolate, raspberry mousse cake. Very good...

There are some photos and I hope to post some as soon as the main ones come in. We have the video, but haven't watched it yet. We've just been spending the week relaxing and hanging out with each other. We didn't go anywhere, but I took the week off from work just so we could spend time together before getting back to some kind of life routine. Though there's nothing even remotely routine about our lives together, lol :D

We went on a few walks, went out to dinner with co-workers of mine who showered us with well-wishes and gifts. Really very nice of them.

There's a lot going on right now and I have a ton of stuff to get out of my head, so I'll be posting more soon and more often now that the big event is past.