Books, records, films , and airplanes — these things matter.
Vows delivered on my wedding day to my bride.
It was a sunny, pleasantly warm Sunday early evening. I was standing under a large maple tree in the lot behind The Stables in Georgetown, an area near Boeing Field in South Seattle. Like most things in Georgetown, The Stables venue is located within the glide path of Boeing Field, very close to the runway threshold. That means airplanes passing loudly by, and VERY low overhead, is a common occurrence in Georgetown. It’s one of the aspects of the area that I enjoy so much. On this day I had forgotten that fact as I had planned to quietly give my vows to Michael. I was also naively expecting everyone in attendance to hear me clearly as I did so. I was quickly reminded of the location’s aviatorial ambiance right before starting my vows because a small corporate jet roared over our heads on its way to touching down. This forced me to speak my vows in an awkwardly raised volume while, terrifyingly, looking the audience in the face as I did so. Unfortunately, not everyone in attendance could hear me despite my attempts. Some of those folks asked me to capture what I said in writing, so what follows is a mildly edited transcript of my vows to my bride Michael on our wedding day.
Michael, one of the first things we ever talked about was a movie. My first text to you was about how your favorite movie, Rosemary’s Baby, and my favorite movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey were both released in the same year, 1968. Since that initial exchange, we’ve shared many good times watching films, listening to music, and talking about books.
In another of your favorite films, High Fidelity, the main character Rob says, “what really matters is what you like, not what you are like… Books, records, films — these things matter.” Of course as even Rob himself admits, he’s a bit shallow. Perhaps then he isn’t the kind of guy I should quote in my wedding vows. Therefore, I’ll disagree with Rob’s quote and say I don’t think it’s a binary choice between what you like OR what you are like. Instead, I think what you like is a reflection of what you are like. Having said that, I love so very much both what you like and what you are like.
High Fidelity, being a film set in a record store full of music, is also full of music store clerks. In the film, the record store clerks made lots of top 5 lists to express their opinions and feelings about various subjects.
I addressed the crowd at this point and asked, “Anyone here ever work at a record store and care to challenge me with an example of one of those top 5 lists?”
I looked around for my audience plant, but was surprised to see A LOT of hands up. In retrospect I’m now very curious about what lists others had in mind when they raised their hands. After getting past the surprise of seeing so many hands go up I found my plant Laura “Gravy” Graven and called on her, “Yes, Gravy, you have one?”
Gravy stood up and asked me in her best Barry Judd voice, “Top 5 things you promise to Michael, GO! Subquestion: Do you promise them now and forever?”
OK, top 5 things I promise to you Michael:
- I promise to stay faithfully by your side.
- I promise to limit the musical crimes perpetrated by my bad scream singing of Styx, Phil Collins, Toto, etc. to the shower and the car, most of the time.
- I promise to be honest and true.
- I promise to protect you from any neighbors attempting to give you gifts containing tannis root.
- I promise to love and cherish you.
These things I promise, now and forever.
