Thursday, September 21, 2006

A Longer Word For Joy


The last wedding rehearsal I attended, I had to stand in for the bride during the fake vows. The bride's father and father-in-law to be (they were both ministers) were both performing the ceremony. My friend Shawn was slated to perform the requisite reading of sappy love poetry (Donne, I believe, someone else had to do the Corinthians verses) and we'd already gotten into a fender bender on the way to the rehearsal, gotten lost, realized we were way overdressed for the event, and now had to endure the last part of the evening in a small-town church with a bunch of nervous people who were trying to learn their roles. Shawn and I knew the bride, a beautiful girl who was marrying a total stranger to us, a man who did not like us upon our first meeting (we met at Christmas and their cat was threatening to knock over the huge tree and drank Mountain Dew out of his bowl -- his one big trick that we fixated on given the lack of conversation) and kept introducing us as the writers, the way someone might say leper or whore.

I had never heard the superstition about not going through the rehearsal before and wondered if the bad luck might get on me, the stand-in. Lord knows, I looked the part, all dressed in black and standing before God, promising my love to a man I didn't know. Hey, I'd done that before except my dress this time was much, much better.

Michelle's Spell of the Day

"Martini is a longer word for joy." Clara Bow

Cocktail Hour

The End of Summer

1 part vodka
1 part cranberry juice
1 part grapefruit juice

Serve over crushed ice.

Benedictions and Maledictions

Happy Fall!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're not gettting older, Michelle. You're getting better. I'll drink to that.

Anonymous said...

Can you get me Shawn Connery's autograph and the recipe for a Long Island Ice Tea?

Anonymous said...

Should I tell Alfred to ready the car for our drive, darling?

Anonymous said...

I know it's a cleeshay, but I never get tired of saying, "shaken, not stirred."

Anonymous said...

Holy shit, I'm out of epithets!

ZZZZZZZ said...

You are not old at all! Shame on you for thinking so. I love the last paragraph in this post. Standing up there in a black dress before God and promising your love to a man you didn't know... I wonder... even real weddings... how well do you even know the person you are promising your love to? A lot of people are so bent on getting married right away.. oh we've been together one year I think its time! Well I've been with Joe for 5 years... I'm 22 years old.. guess what? It's not time.

John Ricci said...

Dear Michelle,
Lovely post and view, as always. A champagne toast to you. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Honey, adorable shot, adorable writing. I'm glad for cranberry juice, for one. And Baby Grouchie and you! kiss kiss Bon

JR's Thumbprints said...

I'm often asked, "When's the last time you went to church?"

My answer, "When I got married. I haven't gone since."