Happily Ever After

I spent the weekend in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne is a city with approximately 220 thousand residents, which makes it significantly larger than Ann Arbor, Michigan which has 114 thousand residents. But despite the larger population, Fort Wayne "feels" much more rural than Ann Arbor, and in many ways is the classic midwestern city. It is a very nice city, and people are very friendly there. One thing that was interesting was that the city seems to have more Arby's restaurants per capita than any city that I have been in. It seems that you can't drive more than a few blocks without running into another one.

I was in Fort Wayne because a friend of mine from church was getting married. The wedding was held at his fiance's (now wife) church, the Bible Baptist Church of Fort Wayne. I was actually part of the ceremony as both a groomsman as well as helping to lead worship music. It has been over a decade since I last was a member of a wedding party, which was when my friend Jesse was married. It was a little odd being dressed up in a tuxedo (no thanks to After Hours, which almost screwed up the event for the groomsmen). Tuxedos are really hot to wear in the summer, and I was really sweating. I was worried that my hands were so slippery that the guitar pick would fly out of my hands. Thankfully, the music went ok, and the rest of the ceremony was beautiful.

The best man had an excellent toast at the reception. It was moving, funny, and very appropriate to the occasion. It's not every day that the toast brings the bride to the verge of tears both for how funny it was, as well as how nice it was.