This knot's the strongest: Tiffany’s Wedding.

It was a day of special magnificence as Bilbo Baggins would so fondly say. Have you ever been in a movie before? I don’t mean acted in one or made one yourself, I mean actually lived one. I had never been in one myself, although I can think of a few moments in my life that felt rather cinematic, but this weekend I got to step briefly into a friend’s movie. Yesterday my friend Tiffany Coombs became Tiffany Martin, something that is going to take me a while to get used to. If you ever want to hear about a movie-esc life, just give Tiffany a call and ask her what she is up to.

I have known Tiffany since elementary school but did not really become close with her until the summer before my junior year of high school on a Europe trip. Right there, scene from movie. Nothing solidifies a friendship like skipping through picturesque towns in Switzerland, eating huge hunks of bread in Paris and being almost taken out by taxies in London. It was our first trip overseas, and as cliché as it is there is no better way to describe it than the start of a beautiful friendship.

Since then Tiff and I have had the most fun together. We survived high school and certain people’s bitchy ways (although I had to leave her for her last year due to the fact that I was a year ahead), as well as making it through many a band and color guard function with most of our sanity intact. Tiff and I both share a love of old movies and men long dead as well as David Bowie and Jim Henson productions, namely Labyrinth where we can get our Muppet and David Bowie fixes all in one sitting. She has helped me countless times to be a girl, meaning she taken me shopping and told me what to buy. What will I ever do without this sort of guidance?

I remember the cold day last winter when Tiffany called me with the news. I was at the CAC late at night ‘working’ and had to go outside to heard her over the roar of music majors in the lobby. It was freezing and I left my coat inside, but once she told me she was getting married and wanted me to be one of her bride’s maids the only thing I could feel was excitement. I literally could not stop smiling. The moment I got home that night I banged on Nicole’s door and, jumping up and down, told her the news despite the fact that Nicole did not know Tiffany at all. Since then everyone has been in a frenzy preparing for the big day, which last night, finally came in a hale of endless smiles, adult cookies (use your imagination) and rain drops.

The day before the wedding the bridesmaids gathered together to get our nails done and, in my case, meet each other. Tiffany’s attendants were her two sisters Melissa and Courtney and her friend Stephanie from Canada who I had never meet. There’s another reason her life is a movie; she lived in Toronto going to Yoga school for about a year. She started as a music student at Shenandoah University, but then decided she was destine for other things. It was at Shenandoah that she meet James Martin and feel in love. But like all good movies there comes an obstacle to overcome. At the end of her time at Shenandoah, they broke up, but in the spirit of what I tell all my friends seeking relationship advice (pretending I actually know something on the topic), in the end it was meant to be. While she was in Canada they reconnected, realized that they never stopped loving each other and the rest is recent history.

The wedding was marvelous. Ceremony being at 7pm, us girls had all day to hang out and get ready at the B&B. We got breakfast served to us in our apartment type set up we were staying in and never had to leave the house. Tiffany was in good spirits all day, although a little anxious. She kept asking us “why did I have to pick an evening wedding?” as the hours flew by for us and dragged for her.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not one for tears. I don’t know how to handle them when people around me are crying and I don’t enjoy crying myself (unless I’m watching Deep Impact). This being said, I will openly admit that yesterday was a struggle. Every little thing was making me close to tears. When Tiff put on her gorgeous dress I almost lost it, and then again when Melissa came out of the bathroom and saw her, saying softly “ohhh” at the sight of her younger sister looking so grown up and radiant. The four of us just stood around Tiffany in silence watching her mother lace up the back of her dress because saying “you look so beautiful” again was making us sound like extremely scratched records.

Looking back, I’m surprised I did not expect something fantastical to happen at the ceremony. The wedding of Tiffany Coombs could never be ordinary, and that was proven right as…actually rain. Right as the photographer finished taking pictures of Tiff outside thunder rocked the sky and the clouds that had made for such perfect overcast lighting for the pictures spilled rain. The guest began to arrive as it poured, some heading for the house for cover, others going out in the field where the tent was set up for the reception. We all reassured Tiffany that it would be fine, that it would stop in time and be dry enough to walk in. She hid her worries well, calmly sitting in a chair and reading a random book. Then the rain did stop, like we said, and out we went.

The ceremony went smoothly, everyone remembering where to stand and what to say. I was biting my tongue to stop from crying the entire time, but mostly when Tiffany walked in on her father’s arm. The look on James’ face when he saw her would have made even the evilest child-eating giant hidden away in a cave never seeing sunlight cry huge watermelon sized tears enough to fill a swimming pool. In fact, I believe such a giant did start to cry somewhere in the clouds, because just as the couple lit the unity candle after giving their vows, it started to rain.

The minister Josh (a fellow band member from high school a year older than me) shouted for everyone to precede to the tent where the ceremony would continue. Magically umbrella’s appeared in our hands, from where I still don’t know, and we ran with the crowd to the huge white tent in the distance. I was so worried Tiffany would be upset, but I should have known better. Hand in hand with James, her long train in the other she beamed as they ran for the tent. Like the climax of any great movie everyone laughed and scrambled for the shelter. Faster than I ever imagined possible the whole wedding party was once more assembled at one corner of the tent, all the guests soggy but happy gathered around.

Josh, shouting to be heard over the roar of the rain around us, declared that they were now man and wife and for James to kiss the bride. Kiss they did. The giant in the sky sobbed for a while longer, his heart undoubtedly turning to gold, and eventually got himself under control enough for us to be able to take some pictures outside of the tent.

So when it rains on your wedding day, go with it. Instead of getting the generic wedding party pictures that every other couple in the history of the world has sitting on their mantel, Tiffany and James will have one where everyone is beaming beneath umbrellas. It was so Singing in the Rain I could hardly stand it. We did Gene Kelly proud.

The evening ended with James and Tiffany Martin being sent off not with rice, but by walking down a path comprised of all their family and friends lighting their ways with sparklers. Now they should be on their way to the Bahamas for their honeymoon and then off to Denmark to live while James finishes music school. Movie life, I’m telling you. Never was there such happiness.

So to Tiffany, I love you and know you will have a life full of more fantastically cinematic moments. To James, thank you for making my friend so happy.

LOVE,

~major7th

PS. I know it's cruel to write about a wedding and only include two pictures, but you all know my Internet situation. However, I do have links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2319909&id=25808219&l=679c2eaae6

Megan Fox has toes for thumbs. Look it up.

Hi all.

Raise your hands if you watched the Michael Jackson memorial extravaganza the other day. Yeah, I did. I was at work, and footage of the event was on CNN almost the entire 6 hours that I was there. It was an extremely slow day, so I put the sound up and watched it between clearing tables, cleaning things and taking orders every so often. Lucky for me everyone was sitting outside, so no one was inside to see me cry. Yeah, I cried. I can’t help it, it was ridiculously sad.

I do think it was a little strange that the casket was there, and that they felt the need to have such an over the top memorial, but really, what was Michael Jackson if not over the top? He was big, so I guess the world would not be satisfied with a normal memorial for the king of pop. I’m not sure there is anything else I can say about it all that has not already been said far too many times, so I will leave it at this. He died, I’m sad, but he was great.

~

In other news, there is no other news. I have been working at lot lately, and not doing much else. Mom suggested taking a few classes next semester at NOVA so I can put off paying my student loans. I am all for this, and even more so now that I have seen what classes they have to offer. No upper level creative writing classes unfortunately, but they do have a bunch of film classes.

Appreciation, intro to Directing and just plain film, I have a good selection. I might take one film class and then something either easy or random, or both. Like drawing. Actually, that is neither. I have never been able to draw. I might take Mythology. I feel my life could be greatly improved with better knowledge of Mythology. Everyone’s would.

So what it all boils down to is that I need money. Not necessarily for these classes, they are way more affordable than classes at WVU ever were, but for future grad school and other plans. I have two major plans that require money; grad school and a trip to Wales with Nicole. The Wales trip is a recent development, something she brought up for serious a few days ago and something I want to do extremely badly. We are starting to plan out (well she is, I keep meaning to look things up but have had no time of late) how much things will cost and how to get around, and I am getting excited. This Wales trip makes it easier to work for a week and a half straight without any days off. Thinking of the amazing things planned for my future helps the days go by faster, not that they are really that bad anyway.

Anyway, if anyone wants to help me out with either my trip to Wales or my grad school fund, I am taking donations. I will not accept donations from any of my grandparents or parents because they give me way to many things as it is, by the way. Really I will not be taking donations from anyone, because I would feel bad, especially if any of my plans fell through. So never mind. It will be far more satisfying in the long run if I am able to go to Wales because I worked hard and saved the money myself. And really, after working for about a month, I am not doing too bad. Look out world! Man that's lame.

~

I told a few people the other day that I almost got shot and that I would give them details in my blog. That was an exaggeration, and then I never wrote about it, so sorry on both counts. I will explain now. I did not almost get shot, I was just in the same neighborhood as a guy with a gun, that’s all. I’m sure I am usually in the same neighborhood as someone with a gun every day, this being America and all, it’s just that last Friday I knew about it.

What happened was this: last Friday, in Leesburg VA, the home of such wholesome places as Mom’s Apple Pie, the Döner Bistro and various adorable antique stories, some guy robbed a jewelry store, ran into the neighborhood I work in, and held up a family in their own home.

Of course, I did not know this was happening right away like the rest of the town. Customers kept coming in and talking about the robbery, giving me all sorts of crazy stories. First it was a bank robbery, then it was the jewelry store, then I heard a cop got shot, which turns out never happened. Then I heard the helicopter. It was flying really low and seemed to be circling our restaurant and the surrounding area. Freaky, right? Then the cops arrived.

First it was just a few random cop cars parking around the area, then a few more. I started to see people wearing street clothes with gun holsters. Then there were the rifles. This cop was just walking down the street with a huge automatic rifle cradled in his arm like nothing was going on.

After a while the entire street in front of the Döner was packed with cops cars and we were locked inside our restaurant. Apparently the cops outside had started yelling at our customers to get inside because it was too dangerous to be sitting outside. Nice, right? No one ever called us or told us what was going down, they just yelled. Apparently other surrounding businesses got phone calls warning their employees to stay inside because there was a dangerous man about, but we never got a call. We were the business the closest to the action and no one said a word to us. Interesting.

We did not have a ton of customers when were locked in, but there were enough to make a lot of noise. One couple wanted their money back since we could not get outside to the kitchen to make their food, so I had to shout on the phone with one of the owners while he told me how to type that into the computer. There was one guy there from Korea with three pre teen boys. We got to talking, and it turns out that he had just picked up two of the boys from the airport just an hour before, so being locked inside a German restaurant by a rampant gunman was their first taste of the US. They did not seem to really be paying attention to what was going on, the boys anyway, so I guess it was ok with them. The dad was telling me that he was a criminal investigator in Korea, and that no one there is allowed to own a gun, so things like this would never happen, but he said it in a nice way, not a mean I’m-insulting-your-crime-ridden-country sort of way. He said, and this is a near exact quote, “if someone wants to kill someone else they have to use things like hammers or knives.” Nice guy, I liked talking with him.

After a while we were let free, but not because anyone told us it was ok. It looked like the cops were dispersing, so I snuck outside and had to ask an officer if it was ok for us to let our customers out. He said ya like it were obvious. I really don’t understand this lack of communication between our particular restaurant and the cops, how was I supposed to know it was safe if no one told us?

I have a good picture of the Döner owners from the paper the next day, so I may eventually scan it and put it in here, but I am at a coffee shop at the moment and not near my scanner. Despite my aggravation with the officer’s lack of communication, it all did make for an exciting morning.

~

The rest of my weekend was fairly fantastic as well. I had Saturday off so I could co-host Tiffany’s bridal shower and then that night I went to see Transformers with my dad. Finger sandwiches and chocolate covered strawberries in the morning, robots in disguise at night, does it get much better than that? Transformers was an action packed, no breaks thrill ride that kept me 100% entertained from start to finish. I have not been that entertained since, well, since I re-watched the first Transformers with Nicole and remembering what a fantastic movie it was. I have to say, I think the first one was probably a better movie as a whole than the second, as they usually are, but I still had a great time watching Transformers 2.

Skankey tongue-nasty girl robot that had skin, what the hell? That was my one major question. Shouldn’t everyone be more concerned that some of the Decepticons can now look exactly like humans? I know that is a big deal in Battlestar Galactica and Terminator, why are more people not freaking out about it in Transformers? She was terrifying.

This blog is but one tiny speck on my massive list of things to do, so I had better stop here. Sorry to all my loyal readers that I have been neglecting this blog lately, but somehow I find myself super busy.

Everyone should go listen to the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack immediately.

~major7th