Two Weddings and A Brownie Mix

Well, my weekend was pretty much a blast.

My best friend Mike got married on Friday, so Tevan and I drove up to West Jordan to celebrate with them after the wedding. PS, does anyone else find it hilarious that Oquirrh is spelled the way it is? Anyway, we stuffed ourselves silly on good food, went out and decorated the newlyweds' car (which included a bunch of us trying to chug grape soda so that we could tie the empty cans to the bumper -- I really am not a fan of grape soda), and sent them off in style.

Since we were up in the area, my boyfriend and I stopped by his brother's house in Riverton and discovered that Riverton has an oblongabout: a wannabe roundabout.

While the men dozed off, the girls sat and talked shop-talk late into the night. Tevan's sister-in-law is super into YA Fiction and gets books to review all the time, so she's pretty familiar with the publishing world and with what it takes to get a book published. So obviously we have a lot to say to each other about plots, character development, good writing techniques, etc. My boyfriend teased me that I had more fun visiting his family that night than he did. Which was probably true, but just between you and me, he seems to be happiest just being with the people he cares about, so I really doubt he was bored.

On Saturday I had another wedding. This time my cousin's. And get this: She's basically a copy of my mom. They're both named Marcy. They both cut hair for a living. They both were called to serve in Taijung Taiwan, Mandarin speaking (due to some health issues, my cousin got reassigned to a Mandarin-speaking mission in Canada, but the call was the point). AND! They both got married on June 19th. Different temples though. Still. I thought it was funny. Not to take away from my cousin Marcy's absolute uniqueness, because I'm closer to her than almost any other cousin and I know she's definitely one-of-a-kind. I don't think she's ever really thought "oh, I want to be just like my Aunt Marcy" but that's how it's turned out. Except that my mom has never gone to live in France with her husband. And my mom wasn't a dancer the way my cousin Marcy is. Hence the gorgeous picture off to the side of Marcy and her husband (then-fiance) Will.

And this weekend marked my parent's 23rd anniversary. They've officially spent more of their lives married than single. I think that's a noteworthy landmark, don't you? I called them on the way to Marcy's wedding to wish them happy anniversary and talked to my dad for a little bit. It was a lovely opportunity to juxtapose the joy and giddiness of newlyweds with that tried-and-true joy and steadiness of my parents' marriage. I love seeing both. My parents have always been a testament to me that you can stay in love your whole life. They still act like newlyweds a lot of the time. It used to disgust me when I was kid. My dad would come home from work, plant a big huge kiss on my mom and I'd go, "Oh gross! Dad!" (you know, sometimes I suspect he purposefully kissed Mom in front of me, just for the reaction...). I'd protest the affection on the grounds of not needing to see that from my parents. But in truth, I'm so glad that they did show me and my siblings how much they love each other. Because now I know that even though life gets hard and things don't always work out, happiness in marriage can last. In some ways, happily ever after does exist; you just have to work for it a little bit every day.

I think that marriage is kind of like a brownie mix. You toss in a bunch of odd ingredients that don't seem like they should go together (my mom sent me a brownie mix you make by adding yogurt. That's it. Just the mix and a little carton of yogurt) but when you blend it all together (which is exhausting sometimes) it somehow turns out tasting really good. And true happiness comes from sharing that goodness with the other person, as my boyfriend and I discovered while making brownies together that night after the wedding. Good things in life are better when they're shared. I'd get sick if I ate all those brownies by myself, but since I shared them, we each got just enough and it made twice as many people happy. You can't hoard happiness. It grows when it's shared. Which isn't really true of brownies, per se, but they certainly seem to taste better when you share them. You get to enjoy them more.

So hooray for brownies. And thanks to the people who made this weekend special.