D-Day

Well, I'll admit it. I'm a bit more nervous than I thought. This best-person thing seems pretty simple---walk up with Ben, hang on to the rings and the glass and hand them to the Rabbi at the appropriate moment.

This morning I made a huge breakfast, including homemade gravy.

After all, he's been my best bud and business partner all this time. We've stressed out to meet deadlines, discovered many engineering and studio techniques through many trials and spectacular error, and spent many hours just talking in between.

I was cleaning the previously operating -room -clean kitchen I destroyed this morning starting with knocking over an open bottle of Shiraz from last night and ending with said huge breakfast.
The wine was Charles Shaw, better known as $2 buck Chuck from Trader Joes (and not terrible, actually.) At TJ's I feel as sheep-like as I can possibly feel with the exception of waiting in line at Starbucks. sheesh. We can pay more for a cup of coffee than a bottle of wine.

I started to finish off Orion's glass of orange juice when I got a sudden mental flash of him playing with it and the straw. In. Out, In. Out . Slurp. Slurp. I'll have some wine instead.

It's a beautiful apple orchard, the wedding site, but the ground slopes. We are thinking of taking bets on who will fall first, and how many he/she will take with them.

Anyway. I'm composing my toast. I'll run it by Pete, who is always reliable for a bit of clean and polish, and that's that.

Here's my draft:

There's a sign over the studio door, inspired by Ben, that states "Nothin' Can Go Wrong Now." After all the work we've created together these years, and all the things that actually did go wrong, and things that didn't, we know each other pretty well.
But our friendship started with a mutual fondness for science fiction. So when I was searching for the right words to say about marriage, I turned to a SF classic titled Speaker for the Dead, by Orson Scott Card:

Why is marriage necessary for anyone?

Fools say, why should we marry? Love is the only bond my lover and I need.

But marriage is not a covenant between a man and a woman. It is a covenant between a man and a woman on one side, and their community on the other.

So, Shelby and Ben,

By your marriage today you add strength and stability to our lives as well. We thank you for that and we offer our support in return.

And, Ben, my buddy, nothin' can go wrong now.
_______
Well, here we go...