Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

This is the first wedding I officiated. Renee is the sister-in-law of one of my oldest friends. The ceremony I performed was written just a few hours before the ceremony, hence the lack of memorization and the constant reference to the printed copy.

The bride and groom asked for something short and entertaining. They also asked for the Princess Bride intro. Based on the feedback I (and they) got from wedding guests, it appears it went over very well.

Here's (more or less) what I said:

[Said in that all too well known Clergyman voice]Marriage is what brings us together today., Marriage, that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream.... (and if you are true to it) then love, true love, will follow you forever...

For those of you who don’t recognize that little bit of dialog, it’s from a movie called The Princess Bride. A bit of a fairy tale about Wesley, a lowly stable boy, and Buttercup, a princess, who fall in love, get separated by strange circumstances, and through a series of equally strange adventures, come together again.

Every great love story starts out with a “Once Upon A Time...” This is true of reality as well as fairy tales.

Like Wesley and Buttercup, Mike and Renee have had some adventures and gathered a unique crew of characters together to help them in their journey through unknown and perilous territory.

There have been ups and downs, and they even have their own ROUS (Rugrat of Unusual Sweetness), Kylie, to add to the challenges and joys of a life together.

Storybook love obviously exists in the real world. It may not always look as pretty or sound as poetic as what we see on the screen, but it’s the feeling that counts. Most of you know the bride and groom much better than I do, but I think we can all agree that they’ve got that special something that fairy tales are made of.

It comes through in their eyes when they look at one another. In their laughs when they joke. In that light touch after a hard day at work.

And this fairy tale love isn’t just between the two of them--it is among all three of them: Renee, Kylie and Mike. That makes it even more special and even more inspiring for the rest of us.

A lot of people toss around the word Love without much concern for what it can actually mean. Most of the time, it leaves me musing: “They keep using that word, but I do not think it means, what they think it mean.”

But here, before you today, you see what real love looks like.

The fairy tale is real.

Their love is real.

And now we make it as real in the eyes of the law as it has been in their hearts for some time.

Assuming, of course, there are no evil princes, black knights or dragons who would have any objections to such a perfect union. If there are, they should step forward now so they can be justly smited by he happy couple.

Do you have the rings?

Do you Mike take Renee to be your lawfully wedded wife and promise to treat her with the respect, caring and understanding that you have already proven yourself to be capable of, until the end of your story?

Do you Renee take Mike to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to treat him with th erespec, caring and understanding that have already proven yourself to be capable of, until the end of our story?

With this exchange of rings and promises, you are now man and wife--free to be king and queen of your own domains, with a love that will inspire all around you.

Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure.

You can show us one that will make them all pale in comparison... or we can skip to the good part and storm the castle.

Or, you can just watch the video:

Please excuse the shaky nature of the video... my friend who was handling the camera was also juggling a still camera (and my cheap DV cam isn't that great to begin with... I'm particularly annoyed with the audio pickup and tight field of view on the lens).

All in all, quite the successful day. It made me very happy to be a part of it.

Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

On 19 June, nearly two dozen of my classmates and I got together for a semi-informal Class of '93 reunion at Roark's Tavern in Monticello.

The above picture was a little early in the night and some people who were there, weren't when the flash went off.

More on all this later. The important thing is: It was pretty darn awesome.

It occurred to me earlier today that I am apparently the token single person in my office.

That's neither good nor bad, just an observation.

Followed by the observation that, as I look around at the landscape of people in my peer group, I'm once of the oh-so-few steadfastly single people around.

Again, neither good nor bad... especially since I'm relatively happy with things as they are.

Also realized that people go out to eat a whole lot around here. I just can't afford that. Can't help but think of the fun I'm missing out on, though. After some of the debt is taken care of, there will be more eating out going on for me.

The good news/bad news for today is that I was too slow to buy 48 Hour Film Challenge tickets. Bad because it's always fun to see the films (even the ones from people I don't know). Good because, well, those tickets cost money. The important films will be up online soon enough and I'll catch them then. Congrats to everyone who put in those grueling 48 hours, though!

So tonight is off to a game night.

Tomorrow may involve a play (there goes the money I saved by being slow to order tickets) with friends or staying in and buckling down to do stuff (like clean and catch up on the, uh, 20 or so hours of TV sitting on the Replay TV).

It seems to have been a busy and exciting week for a lot of people out there. A hearty WooHoo! to everyone who's got something to Woo! or Hoo! about. I second papercuppie's idea for a big, big party with dancing girls, elephants, fireworks and a moon bounce. :)

It was a good night.

Not great... there would have had to have been a few other people there and I would have had to have done a few things differently in the time leading up to the new year for it to have been great... but it was good.

Good food. Good people. Good conversations. (And a good game of "Catch the Hat" in the wee hours of the morning... no, really, that's not a euphemisim or anything!)

A very good start to a new year.

A very good start to what will be a very good new year.

Thank you all.

Happy New Year!

(Just wanted to get that out there since I plan on being nowhere near my computer when the New Year actually rolls around... unlike some previous years...)

Goodbye and good riddance to 2005.

2006? Bring it on! :)

Growing up, I remember Christmas being a big deal.

Actually, I remember all the holidays being a big deal. Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, birthdays... whatever. They were excuses to get the whole family together. Granted, most of the time that was just everyone on the Lubnewski side of the family. My mother's side was the bigger side and had more local relatives. They're also the Catholic side (hence the big deal Christmas and Easter stuff).

Christmas was, by far, the biggest production. It would alternate between my grandmother's place and my aunt's (great-aunt? Grandma's sister) place. The Lubnewskies and Skalskies (and their families) from Pennsylvania would make the trip up, all the cousins and even some friends of the family would come by. The food went on for miles, especially the desserts. Every sort of cookie and cake, fudge (both peanut butter and chocolate), Jello layers in six colors... it was a diabetic's nightmare. But it was oh-so-tasty.

Of all the kids/cousins, I'm the second oldest. But there were always a bunch that were within a few years of me, scattered among the four years between my sister and me. Because of this, the mounds of sweets were challenged by the mounds of presents.

On years when the big Christmas Eve party was at my Aunt's place, my family and my uncle Joe (mother's brother) would retire back to my grandmother's place--with it's silver metal Christmas tree and (until recently) stuck in the 70's orange shag carpet in the living room--to relax a little and then tear into our presents. On the years when my grandmother hosted, we'd just out last all the other relatives.

( It was all pretty good... )
mmm... bittersweet Christmas memories. And the family wonders why I don't go to visit more often...