The wedding

Yesterday i attended a wedding. It was of a high school friend's and his girlfriend of four years. it could have been like any other wedding i attended except that this was also intended as a sort of mini-reunion for our batch/ class; it has been a yearly tradition in our batch to hold get-togethers every 30^th of December, but this year nobody bothered to organize one; so when marco announced on Friendster of his big day, those in regular attendance of the yearly reunions marked it as the day. Now, allow me to say that i am a crybaby when it comes to emotional gatherings such as weddings. In a previous wedding of another batchmate that i attended last year, i also cried. Why? I dunno, maybe because the person getting married has been a part of my growing up years? seeing the person you used to see almost everyday, five days a week for about four years, walk down the aisle can be an emotionally charged experience. Some react with smiles beaming on their faces, i do the opposite. Its not that i'm not happy for them. I am very much happy. Its just the way i'm made i guess. With this confession, do not get the idea that i am a scene stealer in all these weddings in which i attend—as the tears luckily escape the public, for everyone's eyes are glued at the spectacle before us that is the bride and groom.

Marco was positively beaming yesterday. I'd be far too assuming that it was entirely because people from the batch showed up on his day. Nope, we were just there to bear witness to their love sanctified by religion. A love, he said in a mini interview flashing before us at the banquet hall/ reception, "a love that we fought for, for four years". their's was a long distance relationship. Seeing your love walk down the aisle after all the hardships, is truly a reward unto itself. But of course the occasion was made all the more unforgettable with friends and family bearing witness. And that's where we gate crashers fit in, hehehe. I say gate crashers because we don't have printed invitations to show, just the word from marco that we are invited, hehehe. when i said "mini" in the introduction to describe the small group in attendance to the sortof reunion within the wedding, i really meant it. To be precise, it was actually "mini-mini reunion" hehehe. only five of us were present; and three of the five had kids in tow. Wow, how time flies when you're having fun! J

on my part, it was rarely fun; i had my fun moments but the long road to finding yourself and setting your own place under the sun was fraught with hardships and heartaches. Maybe it was partly why i cried on the wedding ceremony, realizing we would always be outsiders to this society, to this religion, to this ceremony, to the traditions we've grown up partaking in; realizing later in life that you will be shunned just because you don't fit in. Needless to say, my road to happiness has been a rocky and winding one. "A love that we fought for four years"? Well, same here, my dear; but you can rest your weary heart now—the damned do not rest.

The affair went well as expected. The audience had fun seeing the bouquet tossed and the garter hoisted up. With a lovely violin dirge playing on the background, our biology teacher that marco invited to stand as one of their sponsors jokingly remarked that i'd be the next one to tie the knot. I just beamed a tired smile. Suddenly i'm not so happy anymore.