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2007-08-03 - 5:56 p.m.

Our final wedding event was a reception at a restaurant in Westchester, near my parents� house. I expected it would be full of awkward trying to remember people�s names I hadn�t seen in years. According to my parents, these are �all the important people in your life!� Well actually, it�s all the important people in their lives; I hadn�t seen most of these folks in quite a while. But it actually turned out to be a very nice reception with minimal stress.

I felt bad for Nya though. Although we�d invited a number of her relatives, none of them could come. So I felt like she was surrounded by people she didn�t really know. Then again, I felt like I was surrounded by people I didn�t really know. I know, I know � they remember me when I was this little! But how much interaction have we had in the last quarter-century or so?

Again, a good rule of thumb is whether you call me �Geoff� (as I�ve been introducing myself since about age 10) or �Geoffrey�. I noticed that the few people who were there who�d first met me later called me Geoff. Like an assistant principal of my father (he�s a school principal) who first met me around 10. Also the people who pay a little bit of attention.

Like my childhood playmate, my mother�s friend�s daughter (they were pregnant together). Although I only see her every so often nowadays, I feel especially close. (On an unrelated note, I just wanted to say that we discovered that an allergic reaction to chocolate makes me very violent when I beat her up at age 2 after her grandma had given us M&Ms. So uh, sorry about that.)

My first cousin was there, who was recently diagnosed with MS too. He seems to be taking it kind of hard, but then he�s a pretty dark guy generally. I feel especially bad, as he works with his hands (he�s an auto mechanic). I hope I provide an example that getting MS does not mean your life is over. I mean, I�ve said it before, but it�s one of the best things that ever happened to me�

Most of the guests were older folks though, friends and co-workers of my parents. It was of course nice to see them. Most of them I call Aunt or Uncle name because that�s how family friends are referred to in the culture I grew up in. They all gave us generous wedding presents too. (As my mom put it, �After all the gifts we�ve given to their kids as wedding presents, it�s about time to get some return on investment!�)

I had feared that my dad would give an embarrassing toast, possibly saying how amazed he was at my getting married �despite my disability�. But he did not, instead passing the task to his best friend (my godfather). This man has years of experience at giving speeches as a Toastmaster. But all he said was how �brave� we were. I of course read into this �brave for doing something so foolhardy�, but maybe that�s not what he meant at all.

It was a surprisingly tasteful affair and flew in the face of my fear of suburban tacky glitz. There was a tremendous amount of buffet-style food, mostly vegetarian or fish so Nya could eat it. There was also a later dessert spread, with lots of cakes and pies and stuff. Nya made fun of me for downing like 40 or 50 vanilla cr�me puffs (hey, they were good!).

We stayed a couple of days at my parents house (as little as we could without seeming rude) and then flew home. Our flight back to Chicago was delayed overnight due to weather (unsurprising given our recent travel luck) and we stayed in a Long Island motel. When we finally got back, we were exhausted from all our wedding activities. But I was so happy we were married now! Forever and always :)

� 2007 Geoff Gladstone

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