~ Marriage, Mishaps, and Mindlessness in Portland ~
I took a small sweet trip to Portland over the weekend to act as a witness to the marriage of Elizabeth and Edvin. While I was involved in the logistics of how this was going to work, I wondered why it was necessary for me to fly all the terribly long distance for this activity. After all, Elizabeth could have easily found some homeless person who, for five bucks, could have been her lady of honor. ...sigh... But apparently she preferred me over a random homeless person for the honor. And I am glad that I went. Not only did I have a fabulous time, but by last Thursday (the day that I left), I was feeling in need of a vacation. Work as been kind of, you know, unpleasant. Anyhoo, the marriage was great. We all got up at the asscrack of dawn to get ready for the big day. At some point, while I was rifling around in my suitcase and feeling inadequate, I said to Elizabeth "Hey, do you mind if I wear jeans to your marriage?" We then got into the automobile, bride groom and me, and drove into the downtown area during the morning rushhour traffic. Edvin appeared to be experiencing a certain amount of anxiety about arriving on time. And Elizabeth reassured him that we had plenty of time. After we parked, we walked to the courthouse where we met Miro, the other witness, who appeared to have just dragged himself out of bed. We then stood in a really long line to go through the security checkpoint at the courthouse. Then we walked around and paid various fees and filled out forms. Finally, we were able to sit outside of the judge's chambers where I sat around taking photos and Elizabeth and Edvin reviewed their vows. After gaining admittance to the judge's chambers, I continued to take photographs while the judge lectured everyone about marriage. It was weird. He was going on and on about how much he enjoys doing marriages because it's the only time during his day that he gets to see happy people. He also described the bureaucratic ordeal that is the marriage process in detail. At some point, he made a random comment about people being worried about terrorism, and I felt totally thrown for a loop, having no idea what terrorism had to do with anything. Granted, I wasn't really listening to what he had been blabbing about, but still. Call me simple and naive, but I am not one of those persons who obsess about terrorism day in and day out. So then they got married and I did not pay one ounce of attention to the ceremony because I was too busy taking photos. Snap, snap, snap. Then everyone sat down again after the judge pronounced Elizabeth and Edvin "man and wife" and he began to explain the importance of the marriage license. Then again, he felt it was necessary to include a random comment about what if Immigration Services come after Edvin. And it all became, for me, illuminated. The judge thought it was a green card marriage, despite the fact that Edvin is an American citizen. And the comment about terrorism... reflective of Edvin's atheist/muslim background, native language and crazy weird unAmerican name??? I dunno, it seemed to me the opposite of politically correct of the judge to make these comments. But I kept that opinion to myself and continue to snap, snap, snap photographs.
After that, we then took the marriage license to the county office building dealie where they paid yet another fee to become officially married. Then we got breakfast at this fantastic restaurant. I anticipated that an enitre breakfast entree would be too much food for me, so I persuaded Miro to share an order of eggs bennie with me. This proved wise, as our respective portions were the perfect size and so amazingly delicious. At that point, Elizabeth and I decided to spend the rest of the day together. We got onto some bikes and rode over the bridge to downtown and engaged in some enjoyable shopping. At a certain establishment, I found a great pair of Citizen jeans for a ridiculously low price. Which I found quite exciting. Elizabeth and I, upon becoming hungry for lunch, rode the bicycles out to another part of the city for some sushi. While the sushi was by no means the most impressive sushi, it was very good and was served on individual plates revolving on a conveyer belt. It was an exciting experience. I began by picking up a plate worth $1.50 and ate some amazing tuna sushi with spicy sauce. Then I picked up a plate for $2 with another kind of sushi. I had four plates in total and spent a mere $6. Whoever came up with the idea of conveyer belt sushi is a genius. Elizabeth and I then proceeded to ride bikes to her home, and I had a blast. We stopped by a yarn store with attached coffee shop and spent quite a while knitting. Yet again, another example of pure genius: a coffee shop attached to a yarn store. I experienced something akin to being in heaven.
Later that evening, there was something of an ordeal to gather everyone up for dinner. I attempted to play as little part in the organizing process as I could. Sheesh, trying to navigate around everyone's schedules and getting them to sit down for dinner together! Anyhoo, after much of the craziness had happened, Elizabeth and I picked up Lorry and then went to one Mississippi Pizza establishment, where we met Edvin and Miro, and Miro's brother and sister-in-law for dinner. I drank several glasses of wine and ate several slices of pizza. It was fun. At some point, as I was yawning over my senior citizen bedtime, Lorry and I became aware that everyone else intended to stay out much later than we wanted. Thus, we said our goodbyes and went to locate a bus to take us home. It was funny, hahahaha, I was loopy from the wine and had no sense of where I was, and Lorry also did not seem to know where to catch the bus. So we walked around a lot. Eventually, we loaded onto the bus and I experienced a delirious public transportation thing.
On Saturday, I got up early and wandered several blocks and blocks away for a coffee and food item. And I knitted a lot. At some point, a guy sat at the table nearest to mine (which was still two feet or so away from me) and proceeded to make an elaborate gem stone display on the table. He had a crap load of gem stones which he meticulously arranged and he also propped up a couple of books on gem stones. Once he got this to his satisfaction, he sat back and appeared to be waiting around for people to ask him questions about gem stones. I found it odd and he seemed, to me, off somehow. Then I did some shopping in that part of the city, locating some amazing shoes, and then met up with Elizabeth and Edvin for lunch. That afternoon, Elizabeth and I went on a long hike in Washington Park, which was fantastic. I felt very lucky to have experienced Portland under such good weather circumstances. We also did a bit of browsing at some shops along a hipster type street. That evening, after discussing all that we felt like doing, we decided to spend the evening making dinner at their home and watching Six Feet Under. While we were making diner, Edvin came home and surprised us with some Cherry Fudge ice cream. So it was a perfect restfull evening. The next day, we had coffee and an exciting pastry item at Grand Central Bakery before I caught my flight home. I certainly love fabulous weekend trips!
