so i pull up in front of the house just after 6, my mom and my sister are backing out of the driveway on the way to the reception, they take off, I walk inside and my dad is sitting on the couch with one leg up and a giant bag of ice over his knee going “dont ask…”

turns out he fell off a chair trying to get at something in the basement and ended up with a hematoma around his knee.

right, so i drove up because my friend julia got married today. we’ve been friends since kindergarten. i couldn’t make the ceremony cause it was early in the afternoon, but i booked it back for the reception. so then after about a four minute turn around time to get changed after i pulled up, i headed out with my dad and his hematoma.

i met julia’s husband once when they came through vancouver last year. coincidentally we share the same name, which made the reception a little strange to listen to having been really good friends for so long. this became
even more apparent when I went to talk to julia’s parents. i know danielle and dario will know what i mean about this. when your parents and your friends parents are friends because you’re friends and then both sets of parents secretly then not so secretly hope and or try and or bribe you two to end up together?

anyway, i was talking with julia’s dad who then introduced me to her new father in law. but not just “Tim, this is Pat.” it was more along the lines of “Tim, this is Patrick, another Patrick, Julia’s first boyfriend.”

I’m pretty sure i kept the whole caught off guard expression off my face after that.

and then you have to wonder, what goes through the head of the father of the groom after an introduction like that? especially when said groom and said first boyfriend of the bride have the same name. is it like “well, im sure you’re a nice guy and all, but sucks to be you.” or “what have you previously done to my new daughter in law?” or even “he’s too tall for her anyway.”?

i do not know. i do know that that’s the kind of thing you inevitably get contemplative about, so I’m sure over the next few days it’ll cross my mind a few times.

like I said, I’ve known Julia pretty much my entire life. the first time we ever went on a ‘date’ was to go see Titanic. you know the kind where one set of parents drops you off at the theater, asks what time it’ll be over and is already waiting for you when it’s over the last time we ever went on a ‘date’ was to see Mousetrap.

i think this is always going to be one of those friendships where in the back of your head you’ll always wonder what would have happened if things had gone further?

All the years I’ve lived away from here, whenever I’d come back to visit there were a handful of people, not even a handful, maybe a few fingers of people I’d want to see. she’s always been one of them.

I’m trying to convince myself that it’s not hard to watch her get married. i guess it is and it isn’t. it isn’t in the sense that i know she’s happy and will have a great marriage, but it is because i sat there watching a friend i’ve had for twenty years leave with a complete stranger.

in any case, i’m happy to have been one of the few people who weren’t family to have been invited.

congratulations to you both Julia and Patrick!