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Monday, September 29, 2003

The Story Of My Life

In Which Disaster Follows Me About Like an Overeager Puppydog But Everything Turns Out Okay Because I Am Lucky Enough To Know Wonderful People.

Neil and Renee got married this weekend, in Port Townsend, WA. Neil is one of my oldest and dearest friends (we met fourteen years ago when we were high-school sweethearts) and he and Renee and their dog Cousteau are a wonderful family. I flew up for the weekend to celebrate with them.

Through a series of unusual and improbable events involving my bank and my financial aid, I managed to find myself in the Seattle airport, nine hundred miles from home, with no money and no credit cards. I'm not going to enumerate the unfortunate circumstances and choices that led me to such a sorry pass, merely to say, I was stuck. Really stuck. Oh-fuck-will-I-have-to-sleep-in-the-airport-for-two-nights stuck.

Enter Will Morgan. Will is my hero. No, seriously, he is a knight in shining armor. I know Will from my online alunni web conference, and he lives in Seattle, so I called the directory and asked for the numbers of all the Will Morgans in the Seattle area. There are two.

I was all like, "Hi, Will? Is this the Will Morgan who went to [my undergraduate institution]?" and he was all like "Yeah" and I was all like "Hi, I'm a damsel in distress at the Seattle airport" and he was all like "wait thirty minutes" and then he rode up in a white Fox and swept me off to his house near the zoo.

All Hail Will! We had a fabulous tomato-and-herb salad for lunch fresh from his garden (and yum, raspberries) and played some pickup soccer in the park with his friend John (I am so out of shape). And we had apple pie for dinner and breakfast too!

I caught the Bainbridge Ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, and Neil's friends Mark and Devin and their dog Roshi met me at the dock and we drove up together. One of the first people I saw was old friend Lee Bob, a groomsman. Hugging him, I tripped on one of his shoes and spilled coffee down his back...all over his nice white shirt, ten minutes before the ceremony. Luckily, it cleaned up invisibly with a little water.

The wedding was full of good people, good music, good food (mmm, pie...) and I smiled and laughed so much my face hurt. Lee Bob played versions of "Ring of Fire," "Into the Mystic," and "Going to the Chapel," and Uncle Kenny sang "My Girl" with a chorus of dancing bridesmaids.

I got to meet a lot of wonderful people, and spend more time with some I'd met before. The sun was shining, Renee was radiant, the farm was blooming and growing, and the speeches and toasts were heartwarming. Nobody knows how to build and enjoy community like Neil; he gathers good people and goodwill wherever he goes, and the wedding was a shining expression of that.

His parents completed part III of my rescue (mission: Return Me To Airport) on Monday, and I got to participate in a whole-family caravan of six Harringtons and two other family members, which was a great deal of fun and included a stop for craft store shopping and turkey sandwiches. Thanks, Harrington clan!

We love you, Neil and Renee.

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