2006-11-09 - 3:48 p.m.
Jonathan and I have been friends since we were in the same freshman dorm at Harvard in fall 1992. His room was a couple floors above me (I often used to go up to his floor�s bathroom to shower for reasons I�ve quite forgotten). We first bonded like the first week of school when we went to see Jesse Jackson.
That first week, the campus was blanketed with fliers calling for increased wages for Harvard�s clerical workers and promoting a union rally at which Jesse Jackson would be the keynote speaker. Jesse Jackson! Jon and I were very excited that we�d only been at school a few days and there was already the opportunity to see someone so cool.
Figuring seeing him could be an excellent initial group foray for our dorm, we went around asking other people if they wanted to come. We were met by a lot of blank stares. Some people claimed they had no idea who he was. Uh. Civil rights leader? Contender in the 1984 Democratic presidential primary? Supremely eloquent orator who often drops in words that rhyme just because it sounds cool?
�Oh. He�s talking at a union rally? So, are you guys like really into the labor cause?�
Hmm. It seemed like they were missing the point here. �Well look, I hope the union gets their raise like I�d hope anyone would get a raise. But the main attraction here is that Jesse Jackson is speaking! He could just read a laundry list out loud; it would still sound extremely cool.�
Our dormmate would inevitably beg off, claiming they had to wash their hair that afternoon or something. In the end, Jonathan and I went to hear him speak by ourselves. It was of course incredibly awesome. Jackson dropped rhymes like there was no tomorrow in his smooth Southern accent. We ahr not heah for welfare but for fair share and health care!
With such an auspicious start, Jonathan and I became great friends at school and after. We seem to keep getting older though. At the end of September, he got married in DC (that�s why we went). He�s a lawyer there now, doing a lot of work with businesses in post-Soviet states (he�s fluent in Russian and was rather nonplussed when the Soviet Union collapsed shortly before he embarked on a Soviet studies major in college).
He met Laura down there. She�s also an attorney, for a non-profit (I�m afraid I�ve forgotten which one). I guess I don�t really know that much about her. But she earned a special place in my heart once when I was on the phone with Jonathan. He asked what date our wedding was again as he�d forgotten. In the background I could hear Laura screaming out �May 27th, duh!� Aw. It�s nice to be remembered.
Their ceremony and reception were at probably the nicest place I�ve ever been to a wedding. It was at the Meridian House, which is usually some sort of international affairs center. I guess they do a brisk side-business renting it out for special occasions. It almost seems like a sprawling embassy. It�s a tremendous, beautiful building in the northwest city on a quiet, tree-lined side street.
The ceremony was outside in the backyard. It took place in the late afternoon on that warm day. It was still light out, but the sun filtered down at a strong angle. Magic hour, perfect. After the ceremony there was a cocktail hour, also outdoors on the patio (with very tasty mojitos!). It was really good to see the crowd from Harvard, most of whom had already seen me in a wheelchair.
The reception was right inside. Unfortunately they didn�t have a room big enough for all the guests, so we were spread over two separate rooms. Of course Nya and I were seated in the outer room, away from the wedding party where you really couldn�t hear people at the first table who got up to toast unamplified. Ah well. There were other good friends of Jon seated around us, so at least I didn�t feel like I�d been relegated to the kids� table.
Nya can dance her ass off and I made a good effort, rolling back and forth rhythmically in my chair. They had a live band that was actually pretty good for a wedding cover band and mercifully didn�t do �Celebrate� by Kool & the Gang (so key). Festivities continued until past 11 (the wee hours now that we�re all old folks) and was followed by my subway debacle when we left.
I want to close with something very touching Nya said. One of my friends brought his new baby and Nya held it for quite a while. It continuously charmingly drooped its head and seemed like it was just about to nod off, but then would snap its eyes back open to show it was still awake and ready for more excitement. It also kept trying to suck on Nya�s shoulder and seemed surprised there was no nipple there.
Later Nya was standing alone by the bar. Another guest went up to her.
�Hey, what happened to your bebers?� she asked, referring to my friend�s baby.
�Oh, he�s just in the bathroom,� Nya replied, referring to me.
� 2006 Geoff Gladstone
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