Volumes of Love: Meanwhile, In the Man Cave…

Greetings, readers of Mrs. Library’s blog.

This is Mr. Library speaking.

Well, writing.  I guess it’d be pretty weird if you logged in here and heard my voice, since that’s really not how blog’s work.  But I digress.

Mrs. Library has been “sweetly asking” me to contribute to the blog for half a year now.  I regret not pitching in sooner, but with her unable to rightly share my half of the post-separation pre-wedding festivities, being as she wasn’t there and all, I must step up to the plate.

SO.

After we finished decorating the ballroom, I gathered my groom squad–Best Man K, Groomsman D, Groomsman/Brother Library, Groomswoman K, and Reader Rachel, who were all chatting on a conveniently nearby couch–and brought led them back to the other wing of the hotel, to the Groom Squad Suite (aka The Groom Cave).  Brother Library and his girlfriend E were staying in the suite next door with our parents, D had gotten a room for himself and his boyfriend, and the rest were staying in the two-bedroom Cave.

On the way, of course, I had an errand.  Father Walter had left his gift at the Drayman, so I had to pay him a little visit.  The visit proved more memorable than anticipated, when he answered my knocking fresh out of the shower, with a towel about his waist.  With profuse apologies, I pressed the gift bag into his hands, and hustled back to the Cave.

Now, the chronology is a wee bit hazy, but I recall I soon found myself rushing back to the Bridal Suite (a solid 5-minute walk within the hotel) for the marriage license, so I could deliver that to Father Walter as well.  After a quick hello and a few kisses, I was back on my way to the Cave, slipping the license under our priest’s door on the way.

I had hoped the night before might serve as my quasi-bachelor party, being as I’d never had one, but the time for fun wasn’t yet upon me; I still had one more project to complete before midnight.  For the last three weeks before the wedding, I had undertaken a project: a poem a day for my bride to be.  And, in the wedding prep rush, I had no verses pre-prepared for the day before.  Therefore, while my Squad partook in a rousing game of Apples to Apples, I sequestered myself in one of the bedrooms to write.See how much fun they were having?

Feeling short on inspiration, I settled on writing a set of haiku, entitled “Tomorrow”:

Tomorrow I take

You in my arms at long last

As husband and wife.

Tomorrow we swear

A love we’ve long felt before

Our dearest of friends.

Tomorrow we seal

Our sacred vows of love with

The holiest kiss.

Tomorrow I’ll weep

As you walk the aisle, because

I’m The Luckiest.

Tomorrow we’ll dance

To the song of our first dance,

Now made a new first.

Tomorrow at last

Our Mexican stand-off comes;

Who’ll make the first smush?

I don’t remotely consider it my best work, but not bad for the time crunch.

I finished composing and transcribing these right about 11:40 AM; so, I had to hurry back to the other suite.  Summoning Best Man K so he’d know the way in the morning, I once more trekked up to the Bridal Suite, where I delivered my poems and picked up my own Cyberoptix tie, a silver one featuring a Rorsarch Inkblot pattern.

(source)

This time, the soon-to-be Mrs. Library led me out into the hallway, and, while K made small talk with the bridesmaids, gave me my last kiss as a single man.  A couple minutes later, we kissed goodbye, and K and I went back to the Groom Cave.

By now the Apples to Apples Party had died, Brother Library and E had left, and D and Rachel were both bed-bound; Best Man K very soon followed suit.  So much for a nice long night of quasi-bachelor-party-dom.  (I later had a proper bachelor party before Mrs. Library’s and my second marriage, but that doesn’t apply here.)

Groomswoman K sensed my disappointment, and she, her date, and the couch-surfing Soxmeister stayed up playing Mario Kart and Wii Sports Resort with me ’til about 1:30.  At that point, we all retired, and I climbed into the bunk above my best man’s bed, there to sleep ’til morning.

Walk me through this:

Our bridal party began to come together!

We did as UPS does!

We’re cat-walking baby!

We practiced eating!

Our wedding gets Jewish!

The girls and I have a slumber party!

I fell in love with a poet.