Reflections on marriage from the new Mrs. Cole

I'm married! And, after nearly a week, starting to feel like it.

The wedding was crazy stressful up till about 2 hours beforehand, and then it was like a very fast-moving dream. My bridesmaids and other friends are absolutely the most wonderful people in the world, and proved it once again by the amazing job they did taking care of me that day and making everything beautiful with their lovely selves, voices, and thoughtfulness. I'd be the luckiest girl in the world even if I didn't have Sam, because of them! Although the wedding would have been awkward. :-) Either my friends, family, or Sam alone would be enough to make me the luckiest girl, but the combination of all three makes me triply ridiculously blessed. Sarah, Sara, Sarah, Amanda, Lulu, Brie, Julia, Lillian, Stephanie, Hannah, Erica, Jessi - ya'll are amazing and I hope I can be there for you, too, someday, wedding or otherwise.

We are still on our honeymoon in Portland, Oregon. Sam says that it is the most depressed city in the US, according to some statistics or other. I think I'm starting to see why. It's very post-modern. Within walking distance of our hotel there are restaurants of every ethnicity you could think of (including Irish, German, Lebonese and Bosnian). Almost everybody dresses in that weird, hippy/goth kind of way, as if they were trying to be individualistic, but they all look so much the same that they cease to be interesting. Sam's favorite quote is true - "chaos is dull." There's something very unconnected about everything. The Japanese and Chinese gardens here are supposed to be the most authentic in North America. It's as if the people in Portland have sort of re-created "authentic" cultural experiences from all around the world, but don't realize they lost something in the translation. This is really hard to say. It's a beautiful city but I can sort of sense the ennui. Maybe what they lost was a sense of connectedness to the art (including culinary) that makes the culture meaningful. I think that's what's depressing about post-modernism. Things don't seem to mean anything anymore.

On another note, our hotel is fabulous! It's very old-fashioned with bell boys and each person at the desk is also a concierge, and there is a beautiful restaurant and bar in the lobby. It's themed on Old Hollywood, which we were afraid might be cheesy, but they did it very well. And we both love old movies! The other night we watched Casa Blanca, which is very romantic and meaningful for us, because it was right after watching it for the first time that I first told Sam that I loved him, too. That was about a year ago now.

I have so many other stories...honeymoons are awesome. We've decided we'd like to honeymoon for a living, and write a book called "How to Honeymoon Like a Pro" (the irony is, of course, that no one is actually a professional at honeymooning). :-)

The subway is interesting. People seem to forget that they are in public and have the most awkward conversations. They fight and cry and complain about their 6 kids and invite you out to the Irish Pub practically in one breath.

More on honeymoon later. I never finished that scrapbook so I've decided to start writing my love story here, in small pieces. Those who are squeamish about sap are advised to read with caution.

Sam and I met in the beloved "Lounge of Destiny," the nickname for the Classics Department Lounge. But before we met we had a Religion class together. There were about 40 students and we sat on opposite sides of the room. But some enchanted evening - I mean Monday morning at about 11:00, when our class started, Sam and I noticed each other, across a classroom crowded with bored students. For me it was a quickly-developed crush, although we hadn't met. I thought he was very cute and noticed that when he asked or answered questions in class they were thoughtful and well-phrased. Plus he knew Latin and had a proper respect for the philosophers I liked. Sam told me later that he thought I was the prettiest girl in the class and that when he saw me, he actually started wondering if love at first sight were possible. He thought about going home and saying to his roommate, "I saw this girl in Religion and I'm going to marry her." This is the kind of thing someone in a movie might have actually said. But Sam is far too rational, and told himself that he was being irrational, and that it wasn't good to like someone based only on physical appearance.

:-)

I think that's funny.