rain on your wedding day

It is supposed to be good luck for it to rain on your wedding day. Rain=good crops=symbol of fertility or some such nonsense. Mostly this must be told to brides to make them feel better. But what about tornadoes and floods? Losing power? Are those still good luck?

My friend got married on Friday. I've always considered it pretty ballsy to plan an outdoor wedding in Minnesota. The only thing predictable about the weather here is its unpredictability. Fortunately, the torrential downpours waited until just after the ceremony, but it meant we were captive for the duration. The outhouses were a considerable hike from the tents, as was the bar. So they closed the bar. Really? As if this made it better.

I was there with the book club. I realized at the ceremony that I was the awkward 9th wheel. So the whole group had to be split between two tables at dinner for me. Our table wasn't full, and as table 20 of 20, we realized we just barely made the cut.

You'd think that I'd be used to attending weddings by myself. But I really hate it. Not as much as I hate bringing dates I hardly know, but I still hate it. It is an in my face reminder that I'm not getting married. Not even close. Not in the same universe as married. All that hand-holding and the knowing glances, remembrances of their own wedding day. It's a good thing most of my friends got married long ago, because it takes a lot for me to get myself up for attending sans date these days. I've only got one or two a year in me. And there have been years where those get used up, and I just can't do it anymore. So self-centered and ridiculous, I know. But there you go. And weddings seemed like a lot more fun when we were all 25. Why is that?

However, all that aside, I'm considering myself lucky in the sense that the couple I was sitting next to (friends from book club) got a text from their babysitter shortly before dinner that a tree had harpooned their roof and there was water throughout their second floor and down into their first floor. And because of the flood and thunderstorm and tornado warnings, they couldn't drive the 45 minutes back home right away. The kids were ok, and the couple were troopers - remarkably calm and reasonable. My flooded basement was small potatoes in comparison.

Anyway, we waited it out with a little added rain water in our beef and vegetables, and squinting when the lights went out (thank goodness there was a tiny candle on each table). Everyone's dresses or pants ended up with splatters of mud, and my shoes are ruined.

But for all intents and purposes, none of that mattered anyway (well, except for the poor family with the ruined roof). Rain, flood, tornado be damned, Beth and Darren still got married. At 41 for her first marriage, it would have been great if she had gotten a beautiful day. She deserved it. But no matter. They looked so, so happy. And that's what it is all about.