Sunday, June 20, 2010

Minnesota: The Wedding

June 19, 2010


The Wedding Party


Nikki Hollerich, a former employee and daughter of parents from our couples book club, and her partner, Angie Sullivan, commit themselves to each each other at Treasure Island Resort and Casino. The "Wedding" has all the pomp, pageantry, and traditions of most weddings, with an exception. It isn't legally a wedding at all.


There is no question about couples attachment and love for each other. Yet, a certain apprehension hangs over the proceedings, a hesitancy in the speeches from the "Bride and Groom's" fathers, and a reluctance at my own table to articulate our own feelings about the "marriage". Something seems missing. Maybe it is the hope of progeny, something totally expected in Turkey.

Currently, there are a number of feature articles about why even be married, the latest in Newsweek entitled, "I Don't, The Case Against Marriage", or the July/August edition of The Atlantic, on "The End of Men" and "Are Fathers Necessary?". In the United States a recent survey shows 75 percent of 18-to-34 year old men believe that marriage is a necessary institution they'll engage in, verses 63 percent of women. Times they are a changing.
I am now in the process of trying to clarify my own feelings about marriage. One thing I do know is that getting into a marriage is a whole lot easier than getting out of it and I like being married.
I still have three, maybe four. more weddings to attend this summer. I should have a better understanding about what it's about by then.

2 comments:

Kim said...

I think that it is pretty cool that Niki and her partner had a wedding. Like you said, marriage is a lot harder to get out of, and I know first hand that it makes it much harder to run away during hard times. For this reason, I think that the commitment to one another through marriage is so significant, that it does not matter whether it be between the same gender, opposite genders, or even people who choose not to have children at all. However, I do believe that it needs to be done for the right reasons, personal intrensics desires, commitment, and love, otherwise it will not work out in our society. So in conclusion, congrats to the newly weds and I wish them the wonderful stability, happiness, and comfort that I have found in my marriage.
Kim

Anonymous said...

what about Mary? There's Something About Mary thoughts about Marriage. Got rent that movie again to watch. I'll think of your mary