Having returned from a tiring, yet successful wedding weekend in Las Vegas, I was a little shocked to see a friend from Canada waiting at our front door, who had driven down from Seattle to spend a few nights with us before driving cross-country to a conference in Chicago - what, were we going to say no?
Despite not having showered yet and having stayed up all night to catch a seven a.m. flight back to Portland, I found myself getting a second wind, and not even minding the fact that I was still wearing my "very Vegas" feather earrings from the night before!
After settling into being the hospitable host, I was happy to rehash all the details of the weekend and talk frankly about how things have been going in Portland: my job struggles, the difficulties I had been having in finding good female friends...etc.
I even told our friend about the 365 days of massage challenge - which he thought was hilarious and proceeded to tease me about for the rest of his visit. He also recounted to us that he had never really understood having pets (dogs, cats, otherwise) but that he was starting to realize how great they really can be after spending a few days with Bob, one of the most responsive and people-loving dogs he said he had ever met.
This is when I reminded Tyler that we had an open spot for a 'reader' at our wedding - that I had already asked my friend from elementary school to read at our wedding and that if would be more balanced if Tyler did the same. At first our friend was wary, wondering aloud what crazy hymn or poem he would have to read in front of all potential female hookups bound to be at our wedding. When we told him it was his choice, he was charmed by the idea and promised to do a fantastic job - which I knew he would, having seen him emcee several of our friends weddings. I also knew it would be great to have him around more during the wedding, as he is sensitive, very perceptive and fun to have around (we traveled to Europe with him a year ago).
That night as we finally got to sleep in our own bed, I warmed up some Vanilla bean lotion and gave my new husband (we decided to revert back to being engaged in public as of the next day) one of the best hand massages in the history of all hand massages.
