Mate Ch. 04

Not a church wedding. Magda had left The Church of Sweden and we were not very religious. In that we were kind of typical, Sweden is the least religious country in the world. Or so I've been told, but a lot of the facts you know always turn out to not be facts at all. So, a civil ceremony followed by a great big party.

There were many possibilities for theme weddings. Divers wedding, climbers wedding, bowling wedding, Elvis wedding, Abba wedding, castle wedding, zombie wedding in an old mine, zoo wedding with the animals of your choice, boxing wedding, downhill skiing wedding, naked and rolling in paint wedding, building a snow-house dressed only in leaves wedding or pig out on all the shrimps you can eat wedding. And so on.

Yussef offered to organize a Syrian wedding, which was more tempting than the bowling option, but less so than the nude paint deal. Eventually we decided to have faith in the weather and hold the ceremony outdoors, by Jimmy Pond's pond.

Jimmy is quite crazy, but it's not a bad crazy. He lives by a pond not far from town and never leaves it. He's the closest thing we've got to a shaman round here and I have always found him very soothing. It's good to meet someone who is way crazier than me but perfectly happy. Gives me hope. He is human nature, a human who is part of nature, and just as indifferent to approval. He just is.

Magda

That Jimmy fellow had promised us good weather for the wedding. He delivered, too. The night was clear and cold and the sky was full of stars. Our friends were standing round the pond with torches lifted high. The pond watched us, the stars, and the torches with its large unblinking black eye. The wedding officiant was standing at the center of the pond, waiting for us. We watched the scene, through binoculars kindly lent to us by my darling nieces. Peter tasted the chords. "Perfect!"

We made our entrance, bells jingling, in our one horse open sleigh. Friends and torches formed a path for us to where the officiant waited. His part of the ceremony was rather mundane and lasted no longer than two minutes, but when he was done we were legally married, rings exchanged, lips kissed. The officiant stepped back and Jimmy emerged from the darkness, looking like a mix of an old mattress and a bird's nest.

"The pond is pleased." he said. "The pond is pleased because your hearts are pure, and your love warms not only yourself, but other people too. The pond wants you to drink it and it will not make you sick. The pond wants you to drink it and be a part of it as it will be a part of you."

He handed us an old cracked cup with murkish water. We drank. He walked round the edge of the pod inviting our guests to drink. Most did.

This rag-tag algae soup communion was somehow very moving. By marrying Peter I became a part of something bigger than myself, which I think we humans have a deep need to. In accepting communion with the pond as an aspect of Mother Nature or something I reaffirmed my being a part of what I was and always would be a part of and who sounds like the bad fantasy novel now? Well, anyway, it got to me and I am sure you would have been moved too, had you been there.

Afterwards we went to a place we had rented, not all that far from the pond but too far for Jimmy, who stayed. We ate a lot. Dad made a speech. Peter was happy that Ola had come and happy with the chords in general. Yussef had learnt a short speech in Swedish that had us both crying. Then I had a surprise as some curtains were pulled back revealing music equipment. Peter, Erik and Bettan had been practicing in secret and now played some of my very favorite songs. Yasmine made a surprise appearance on the Nirvana tune. She, Greta and Emma made friends in spite of the age gap and played all night, when they didn't all squeeze onto Peter's lap. I must make that man a father as soon as possible. He is born to be a dad.

Peter

The wedding, the party, coming home as married - all perfect. We didn't wat to spend thee night in a hotel, why should we? Instead we lit 82 log white candles - one for every day we had known each other - in the plant room and had fantastic we-are-married-sex. Magda solemnly ditched her contraceptives which gave the whole thing an extra edge. Rough and tender at the same time.

Well. I guess that's it. If it had been just a story all threads would be neatly wrapped up by now. They aren't quite, Roger got off too easy, for instance. But that's life for you, as oppose to stories.

One final word of advice, people: Do things that you will be proud of! When I finally did it changed my miserable life into something wonderful.

Now I'll go with my favorite ending and claim that we lived happily ever after. I suppose it's really too early to tell since it's only been a week since the wedding. But if that week is an indicator happy ever after seems probable. Bye bye!