One more wedding photo, some good words, and a lot of love.

Photo credit Marcos Martinez, 2017;
all rights reserved.

For those of you not on Facebook, that up there is my new banner.

We spent the day mostly on clean-up, and I don't just mean paper plates and cups and tables and chairs. The last ten days have seemed like the last gasp of some dark force's concerted effort to keep us from having a wedding, from my hospitalization last weekend to sundry other occurrences throughout the week to the seeming failure of the water heater two nights before (it didn't fail, but rather did exactly what it was supposed to do; the guys taped over the exhaust vent to prevent the adobe getting into it, and forgot to tell us) to yesterday's events. We had to pick up a few last-minute items, including the Champagne (okay, it's Gruët, the local version, but it's really, really good), and wound up having to go into Albertson's very early to do it.

And the truck died.

We just spent a small fortune in replacing the starter and a bunch of other stuff, and it wouldn't start. It seemed to be the solenoid, which we wound up replacing today ourselves, but it still required a jump to be able to drive it to our mechanic. It needs a new battery and a new alternator, and there seems to be a leak in the oil pan.

Yesterday, though, we just left it there, and Joe T picked us up, and prep began in earnest. There were various other obstacles yesterday, too, from the cold to the flowers that didn't arrive to the traffic delay for the minister to the inevitable one person who sets out to be relentlessly negative and argumentative and just a problem about everything.

We weren't having it.

We absented ourselves from everyone for a bit while waiting for the minister's arrival, put our heads (and hearts) together, and walked back out and jointly took charge of all of it, which is part of why we also wound up walking down the aisle together as well as up it. Wings said this morning that I looked like a warrior, a radiantly beautiful one, and Spirit knows he looked every inch the Indian Holy Man he was assumed to be during the infamous Colorado Wildfire Incident a few years ago, LOL. But we do everything as a team, and why should this be any different?

The ceremony took place under the arbor, and we wrote our own vows, because nothing out there captured both of our traditions and everything we wanted to say to each other:

Ajijaakwe/Day Plume Wings, I love you.
I choose you to love, with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my body, with all my spirit.
My wife/husband, I give you this ring as my promise:
I will always love you,
I will always honor you,
I will always care for you,
I will always support and protect you.
I will hold silence for your voice, and speak for you when you cannot.
I will catch your dreams and hold them safe for you.
I will guard your sleep and feed your body and your spirit. 
I will be your helper and your healer, your refuge, your sanctuary, and your sacred space.
I will be your husband/wife, yours and yours alone, always, in all times and seasons, in this and all other worlds.
I love you, Ajijaakwe/Day Plume Wings, my wife/husband.

And when it began, instead of staying in their seats, everyone crowded around the arbor, forming a circle around us. Yes, we know that it was mostly so that they could hear, but the feeling of the love that encircled us with it was unmistakable, and tears leaked out my eyes all the way through it (although my mascara is apparently a very sturdy brand). Afterward, and after the round dance, Marcos asked us to go over by the pond (now more a small lake), where the low sun was filtering through the willows, and that photo was the result.

In part because of expenses (the need to pay the balance on the plaster, plus now the truck and whatever's coming down the pike for my medical issues), but mostly because we're just tired, we're taking [mostly] a week's hiatus on the house. It's good timing: It's Thanksgiving week, and that way the crew can spend time with their families. Marcos is going to come and do a few things, like replace the last three interior steps and so forth. And we're going to relax a bit (which means that Wings has time to get back in the studio, and I buckle down and push holiday sales), and just enjoy being, officially, husband and wife. Today's been one of extraordinary joy for both of us, so it seems like we're off to an auspicious start.

I still don't feel much like bothering with the house-funding start, however much I should probably do it. Here's the last post with all the links, if you're inclined to want to know. One thing I will be doing is added items to the two registries soon, because the longer we're in here, the more we find we're missing. If we do Thanksgiving dinner, though, we'll be doing it without a working sink anyway, so what are a few more paper plates? We've got lots of plasticware left from the reception, so it may as well get used, right?

Many thanks and much love to all of you: those who came, those who wrote, those who donated, those who kept me sane and gave us moral support all the way through. You'll never know how much we appreciate everything you've done. For tonight, we're just going to enjoy being warm and safe together. It was 19 degrees at 7 o'clock this morning, both fires had burned down, and I was perfectly comfortable in fleece and sweats. This is a well-made house, thanks to a whole bunch of you, and we're profoundly grateful.



All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.