Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A Brief Homecoming

My brief visit to BC is just about to end, as I'm at Vancouver International, waiting at the gate for my plane to board. I flew out here on Thursday and then went with Chris and Theresa to Nanaimo on Friday for Sam and Mike's wedding. I've been back in Vancouver since Sunday evening.

The wedding was fantastic. Mike's parents hosted the ceremony in their yard, overlooking the water. Sam looked fabulous. Mike, unsurprisingly, cried. And Sam gave quite the go-ahead-make-my-day look when we were asked if anyone knew of any reason why they should not be wed.

The reception was great, too. It began with the couple's first dance. This was not just a dance, it was a performance. Clearly, much instruction and choreography had gone into it, and apparently there was a strong desire to get it over with before dinner, which led to its unconventional placement on the program.

Speeches followed dinner, including what was quite possibly one of the best I have ever heard, delivered by Sam's brother Nick. Sam's "ring box", a shiny MacBook, then made an appearance to play the slide show and be the DJ, running an iTunes playlist that was determined by online vote, held in advance. The whole event was a great time.

Otherwise, the visit to Nanaimo was quite uneventful. It's a pretty town, but not all that exciting, and the locals, many of whom fit squarely in the retirement set, didn't prove to be the friendliest. The demographics took a dramatic turn for the better on Sunday morning, as the hotel was overrun by a young rugby team (or several teams?) visiting from England (or Australia?). Whatever the case, yum.

It was really great to get together again with Chris, Karyn, and Gippy and their (apparently very patient) significant others. Much laughter ensued as tired old jokes were resurrected and many new ones emerged.

My time in Vancouver was far too short, but enjoyable. I got together with Jodi and Karen for lunch yesterday, and then got to meet Jodi's pretty new kitties. And, in the evening, a special treat: I met up with Genevieve for a coffee and to catch up. We hadn't talked since high school grad, but had just reconnected through Facebook (thanks Facebook!). As it turned out, we each got to enjoy a free chai (thanks Starbucks!), and Gen was a riot.

She reminded me about how, after her final choir solo (which was self-accompanied on the guitar), I had congratulated her and said, "I didn't know you were talented." A perfectly typical foot-in-mouth moment for me, but fortunately she had taken it as intended.

Anyhow, she just got married, is teaching high school English, and is working on her Master's. Not that any of this was surprising, but it's nice to see that she's doing so well.

So, those are the highlights of my visit. I'll be back in Toronto in about five hours, and I'm already thinking about heading off to Montreal on Friday!

2 comments:

Sam said...

Were the old people mean to you? For shame.

After the wedding, at 2am, I accidentally found what is probably the only gay bar in Nanaimo, when I was out walking the dog (in my wedding dress, because I'd left all my normal clothes in the car). It was in the hotel across the street from the Coast Bastion. The music sounded good, but I think they were winding down.

Dave said...

They were particularly mean to Chris. And, as you'd expect, he did nothing to deserve it.

Do I ever feel like a fool now! I never would have guessed that Nanaimo would have a gay bar. But, I should have checked on the Interweb. Then I could have kidnapped you from your reception and taken you there!

(What, you don't think I was gonna say I would have ditched you, did you?)