Yeah yeah, I know. It’s been over two months since I wrote anything. For whatever reason, I’m just never motivated to post on Scatterthought in August, and September has been extremely busy.
The quick summary is that my job is going great. The people with whom I work are fantastic, and the work is plentiful. Thumbs up.
On the volunteering front, CFAX Santas Anonymous Society is ramping up for the Christmas Hamper program. Last year, I joined the organization when the program was already underway, so I was learning as I went along. Now, I’m in a position to provide more input and help shape the way we do things. I’m really happy to be part of a team that delivers an important and meaningful service.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to expand upon all of that–and we all know that I’m perfectly capable of doing so–because I’ve got a lot to do tonight.
So, let’s just cut to the chase and talk about why I’m excited.
If you know me well, you know that I rarely get excited about anything until pretty much the moment it happens. I’ve probably written about that before, so I won’t bore you with it again. Suffice to say that that’s just the way I am. Moreover, it really means something when I do get excited in advance. And tonight, I’m excited.
Tomorrow, I’m flying back to Waterloo to attend a wedding on Saturday. It’s a quick trip, from Thursday to Sunday, and I won’t have time to do much other than attend the wedding and visit with a few people. I did the same thing two weeks ago when I flew back for another wedding (which was also great, and went just about perfectly).
The difference is that this will represent a new “first” in my life, because this time I’m officiating the wedding. And yes, the entertainer/emcee/herald/loud person in me is very excited about this. Not just because I get to officiate a wedding, but because I get to officiate the wedding of two of my closest friends.
Also, after this I can legitimately say, “I’m available for weddings.”
I started working on the ceremony script about two months ago, and at first I overwhelmed myself. More accurately, Google overwhelmed me. Man, there are a lot of wedding scripts out there. After clearing my head, I thought about what my friends were asking of me. And it wasn’t just to be a person officiating their wedding, but to be “Russ” officiating their wedding. So, I took the basic structure common to many weddings, abandoned the various texts I had reviewed, and crafted a wedding ceremony that reflects what I’d like to say about love, weddings, and my two friends.
Then I sent them a draft and we cut about half the jokes. But don’t worry…I’ll sneak a few of them back in.
I’ve been excited every time I worked on the script, and about half an hour ago I started to get the “OMG I can’t wait I can’t wait I can’t wait” feeling that typically eludes me. We’re finally finished the script, and after reading it out loud a few times, I’m really, really happy with it. So, I’m excited to share it with my two friends–who will know that it was created just for them–and everyone at their wedding.
I’m calmer now. I thought that writing about it would help, and it has. Now, all that’s left is to pack my bags, hop on a plane, and get myself to Waterloo.
Oh, there’s one more thing I should mention, which is that I can’t legally marry people. Don’t worry, though…we’ll have a minister in attendance who will witness the event and sign the marriage certificate. I’m not supposed to make a big deal out of that at the wedding, even though the jokes write themselves, so I’m saying it now to get it off my chest.
So there.