Early in the day I said to The Yankee that if you looked at the entire Saturday — the wedding, the reception and the after party — that this would be the perfect Andrew day.
We went to graduate school with Andrew. He did his bachelor’s at AUM and then went to Florida, worked at a few newspapers, did a master’s at FSU and then his PhD at Alabama. He’s a thoughtful, smart, articulate, crazed guy. We love him to death. He’s on the faculty at East Tennessee State and we wish he were closer so we could see him more often.
I’ve always wanted to see Andrew mad, because he is hysterical when he is faux mad. The truth of it, though, is that he’s a heck of a nice guy. We’ve watched big football games together. We’ve tried every Indian restaurant we can find. He’s helped us move. When my grandfather died Andrew was at a conference in Chicago with The Yankee. I texted her the news, she told him and he said “When do we leave?” That, to me, means as much as anything else that I like about the guy.
He’s an unabashed Alabama fan, but some things must be excused.
So he met this nice young lady who teaches middle school. And now time and love and all that cheesy stuff have brought them here.
They got married in a public park in the oldest city in Tennessee. There were family and friends that they’ve each grown up with. Not too few and not too many. The ceremony was brief and to the point. Simple and effective. Andrew, The Yankee said, was doing what we’ve come to call the Academic Nod — bobbing his head at each point of emphasis and agreement, each one of them, with a thoughtful look of contemplation, agreement and acceptance — as the bride said her vows.
I missed that. I was too busy watching this:
That is the father of the bride. “Her mother. And I,” he had just said. There was this great little half-a-beat of a moment in there. Writing it here, it just feels like it needed a bit of extra punctuation. He had the best, most sure and clear voice when he gave her away.
And then he retreated a few steps back up the hill, standing near us as we stood in the warm June sunlight. And this lady — whom I did not have the pleasure of meeting — got her hand gripped vigorously throughout the ceremony. I can’t imagine the watching-your-child-get-married experience of course, but I wanted to tell the man that his new son-in-law is one of the good guys.
Here they are wrapping up the nuptials:
We walked just down the street to the town’s visitor’s center. There’s an event room there and the tables were decked out with food and all the normal stuff you’d find at a wedding reception. One of Andrew’s college buddies had been tasked with making a play list. We made fun of it mercilessly — because that’s what this crowd does. The kids that were there put on a great dance revue. It involved lots of twirling.
Later, after changing clothes back at our hotel, we stopped back by the happy couple’s new home and spent the evening with all the 30somethings. The sky was warm. The crickets were out. There was more music and lots of laughter. As the twilight turned to darkness the laughter grew louder. Spending more than a few minutes with the bride, we had a great time watching this new person interact with our old friend. It’s easy to see how they get along.
And I was right, the entire day was just like Andrew.
