thinking about the wedding.

Headed back from a wonderful—more wonderful by far than I previously imagined—trip to Cape Cod.

The Wedding of Susan and Karen, I will always have for my own, I feel. Yesterday, at the post-wedding day brunch (where I ate a sumptuous—though dubious—"South Beach"-friendly breakfast of barbecue, fruit, and bacon), Karen—as gracious as hosts come—shoved her own certain fatigue aside and patrolled the house contantly with a smile and a hug saying: "How are you? Can I get you anything?" Karen manages affability as a science and warmth as a craft. Which is a silly way of saying that she's a very special and friendly person. And Susan, I already knew I liked Susan. The other day, she said that we must have been "separated at birth" because we are contantly finding similar ideosyncracies, the sum of which has irreversibly led to our friendship. (Starting immediatley upon meeting, when we agreed that, not only did we not like Goat cheese, but we had both had people frequently disbelieve us and say 'Oh, you just haven't had good goat cheese.' People! Don't like it! Have tried it plenty!) So I'm always happy to see Sue. And to see Sue happy—tearfully happy—well, it was quite contagious for many people there in Provincetown.

I could say "the wedding was beautiful," and that would certainly be true. It was visually one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen, at the base of the Pilgrim Monument (surely a sign of tolerance), under streaming Autumn sunlight, amid a riot of flowers and a clutch of friends and family.

But it was more than beautiful.

It was so deeply meaningful and touching. It's hard not to become strident, (though to their credit, they didn't) or to preach (which they also didn't), but I want to say this: I don't know how anybody could spend any time with these two women and not wish for two people who love each other to be happy and be married. If there are such people, —and according to the newspapers, there are—what a colossal waste of energy. Anyone who even bothers to take the time to disapprove of gay people getting married ought to try making a more productive contribution to society. See, here I go getting strident. And I don't want to. Because, even though it was about that, it wasn't about that. It was about two people who love each other getting married and celebrating their love. It was about a bunch of their frends coming to witness that and wish them well.

And a lot of those friends are my friends now. And isn't it always nice to have a new friend? I think it is.