June 8 – July 6, 2022: Wedding #2

Summer’s gone, summer’s gone. Yeah, I took even more time between posts. I’m now writing this from September. It is what it is. After I round up this second wedding, I’ll jump to the middle of July, then speedily breeze through August, and, as is tradition around these parts, will post more of the novel and even talk about that a bit for those who are interested.

ANYWAY, onward and upward as they say. This is about a wedding, recapped and celebrated wayyyy too late for it to make any sense. But I refuse to die, even as my dignity evaporates. So give it up for Wedding 2, and about 10 slide shows.

The Wedding

You may notice that this post is a bit less curated than the last one. Well, since this isn’t a daily, and it’s more a repository of memory, I’m dumping almost everything I have from my America trip, in chronological (sort of) order. The pictures you see above are from June 18th, just three days after I landed, attending and celebrating Kristian and Brianna’s wedding.

It’s worth pausing here to remember first, though, that when I landed I was able to meet up with my good friend (and new father, welcome to the world Lilly!), Kevin, who met me in Red Bank for a Guinness and then drove me home. I wouldn’t see him until another week or so later, so this precious memory must be guarded at all costs.

But enough with the tomfoolery, here’s more photos:

I settled in at my buddy Lauren’s place. Her boyfriend is also arguably my best friend, so the whole arrangement only made sense. They let me sleep next to the kitty litter box, so when they say they love me I have no choice but to believe them. But to the pictures at hand, the wedding was awesome. The tent was a great idea, the food was…. Man, this was easily the best food at any wedding I’ve ever been to. And fast forward to a few weeks later when I asked Kristian about it, and turns out the whole spread was homemade??? Unreal.

I only had to leave once to get some cigarettes from the local grocery store on Long Beach Island, Murphy’s, where a 16 year old carded me, and since he couldn’t scan the picture I had of my passport on my phone, decided I should just get the hell out of there. But when I went all puppydog eyes on him, he called to his manager who said “he’s in a suit, he’s fine” and then I walked out with those sweet sweet American Spirits. More photos:

And what else could the wedding be but exactly what it’s supposed to be? A celebration. I can’t and won’t forget the ceremony itself, wherein our good friend Dan (infamously known as kindest man alive, and who is also annoyingly good at everything he does) officiated the nuptials, and told us all to take it in, a moment of silence to experience what from that point on would be eternally a memory. No, I won’t forget that. But I also won’t forget Dan’s younger brother (16, I think?) revving around with a suspicious glass in his hand, and my good friend Shayne telling him and his teenage buddies that “in life, less is more. Remember, less is more” before this very same Shayne ended up on a bench outside The Chicken or the Egg (the Chegg) with his head between his knees and his wife laughing because he couldn’t talk anymore. It’s these little things. Everything comes full circle.

I also remember sneaking out for a cigarette with my buddy Josh, away from the hubbub for a moment or two, and chilling on some golf carts that were randomly parked next to the wedding house, discussing his future trip to Deutschland to visit yours truly. And I especially remember requesting WAP to the DJ, and her actually playing the goddamn song, forcing every human being over 35 off that dancefloor by the end of the first “whores in this house”.

A lot more happened, too, but like any experience, its true depth and detail must remain in the past, only peeked and sampled from reading words such as these, or seeing pictures like the ones above. To Kristian and Brianna, nothing but congratulations to you, and even though I didn’t take you up on it, your offer to let me stay at your place while you were on your honeymoon is a kindness I will not soon forget.

Everything Else

But now it was time for different celebration. MINE. My birthday (June 30), along with America’s birthday (July 4). I was in town until July 6, and I was ready to do two things: watch Wimbledon everyday, and party. Ain’t that America.

One thing which my mind has almost forced me to forget, but which I will stubbornly remember, is that my damn Paycheck didn’t drop until July damn 1st, which is like a week later than when it usually drops (monthly paychecks over here in Germany). And after Miami, if you remember, and after Spain and Kristian’s wedding too… Brother, I was on my last two cents, and skeptical to even give out that much. The man you see in picture 1 above, the viking known as Bragi who housed me during my stay in America this year, also spotted me countless times during this period. To forget that would be a crime in itself. Was it annoying that every time we bought beer, he found some excuse not to get Miller Lites? My favorite light American style pilsener? Yeah, that bugged me. But beggars can quite literally not be choosers. This man nurtured me, providing me sweet mother’s milk. By mother I mean America, and by milk I of course am still talking about the beer. Never forget.

What did I tell you, this is a repository! Do you have any idea how long it took just to get all these photos on wordpress? People have slipped into psychosis with less inconvenience. But the bash at the Daltons, with the new hot tub installed (not pictured) and everyone coming together to drink (most of us), do shrooms (a few of us, I heard), listen to rock music and get silly, I had to include almost everything.

And in a way, the pictures do say what I never could. The best written parts of a post like this are the scenes not photographed, juxtaposed with the imagery of those that have been. Only I’m not sure there are any scenes left, because it was all one big scene, for two weeks. One feeling. Damn it man, I tell myself it’s not healthy to live for summer. But with summers like this, it might be a difficult mental habit to break.

I think I can cap it here, although I know I’m forgetting things. If you made it this far, god bless you and yours. I will really try to live the fall and winter just as fully as the summer, but as usual, I feel that may be a tall order. Either way, you will be with me for some of it. Stay tuned for more updates, an excerpt from the novel, and presumably more delays.

See you tomorrow,

Nick