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July 8, 1995.
I didn't feel that we were too young. I didn't feel that we weren't "ready." I knew that we wanted to be together and that we wanted to build our own life.

It was a brutally hot and humid day, as summer days tend to be in South Georgia. The day before I had spent at my house with my dad, my brothers, and some friends. He just relaxed and had a cooked. Nothing terribly memorable and certainly nothing debased. Just a simple affair.

I woke up the next morning and got ready. My brother/best man Muleskinner had the tuxes ready and so Mom made breakfast. I got everything on and then we got in the car. We drove the 45 minutes down I-75 to Tegan's hometown. (We grew up that close to each other but didn't meet until college.)

The first place I went in Valdosta was the site of the reception, the Crescent. We took a lot of the formal wedding pictures that morning, before it got terribly hot and the lighting for the cameraman got too bright. The photographer had a bit of fun with me during all of this. I had not seen Tegan before all of this and so, the idea was to maintain that tradition as long as possible. He staged a series of pictures where Tegan was behind me, then getting closer and closer, all the while preventing me from turning around and then getting a picture as I saw her for the first time. It was annoying, but produced an effective picture.

After the pictures were all finished, we drove up the road a bit and arrived at Tegan's hometown church. I spent the rest of the time before the wedding hanging out in a back hallway/office area of Tegan's dad, who was the minister there. He kept jokingly asking me if I was still willing to go ahead with this? (As if he was gonna let me get away . . . as if I wanted to.) Muleskinner and I just waited. Some of my high school/college friends were ushering people into their seats. Tegan's aunts and future sister-in-law were singing songs. I was fiddling with my small microphone that was attached to my coat lapel (to have better audio on the videotape).

The waiting seemed to go on for ever. Finally it was time for me to take my position at the foot of the altar and wait for Tegan to arrive. The ceremony was good. Tegan's dad officiated and did the vows. Our minister from our college-town church came to officiate the Eucharistic ceremony. It was a longer wedding service than most of my friends were used to, but it was meaningful to us.

The reception was an endless blur of friends, relatives, etc. I didn't get a chance to talk to anyone as long as I wanted and probably didn't talk to some of the people there at all. I don't even remember eating much except the obligatory piece of wedding cake for the photograph. Truthfully, as Tegan would surely tell you, I was somewhat concerned that my friends would screw up the car--even though I had given orders not to. One unfortunate consequence of my concern was that when all was said and done and we were departing, we got in a different car--one that didn't have the food that had been collected for us by Tegan's mom.

When we did get in the car, we drove to Savannah for the night and then headed to Charleston for the next four days. There we spent a great deal of time eating great food, seeing a beautiful city, and just relaxing as a married couple.

It was a great day and the start of a great new life together.

Of Genius Sperm and Movie Geniuses

I finished "The Genius Factory" over the weekend. I found it to be a very quick and enjoyable read. Just the kind of quirky subject that seems engaging enough to a) keep the author motivated through the long slog of writing and b) keep the reader interested to keep reading.

So, did this quirky attempt at eugenics in the 1980s produce any "superbabies?" No. David Plotz uses his internet resources at Slate.com to troll for anyone who was born of the Nobel Sperm Bank and see if they wanted to share any of their life experiences. Are these children, supposedly conceived through the DNA of smart people, better equipped to succeed in this world? Are they destined to lead the world and discover the cure to diseases?

No.

Are any of them even the product of Nobel Prize winner's sperm?

No.

Is the answer to question #2 the reason for the answer to question #1?

No.

It's a quick, interesting read. You should check it out.

(The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank, by David Plotz)

In other media, check out this WWYG?! Omnimedia post on the "permanence" of today's Hollywood stars.

Holiday activities (updated at 8:30pm! And further enhanced with aforementioned link)

It's been a busy weekend.

We had Shirtless and his wife over for dinner last night. And then after that we went to see the fireworks at the Central College church down the road from where we live. The kids did pretty well . . . Ariel complained a bit about the loudness of the bangs, but they got to see some fireworks just the same.

This morning, we decided to try and support our church at the New Albany parade, but we weren't quite sure where to go (having decided at the last minute), so we didn't find it in time. That kind of put us all in a bad mood, but we got over it in time to eat lunch and head to our own community parade. We got some good seats under the shady awning of an Uptown shop that was strategically close to Graeter's ice cream. Ruth and Ariel enjoyed some chocolate (with rainbow sprinkles) while Tegan and I really enjoyed the chocolate coconut almond.

The parade got going and we saw the best and brightest of our town cruise past. I noted that the politicians give out the largest volume of candy. Ariel complained earlier about the heat and the wait for the parade, but when the candy started showing up, she got happier.

I think I saw my friend (and fellow blogger) Sven Golly drive by in his truck. I got a flier from an establishment that I think he (or at least) Gven Golly are affiliated with and I would be glad to put in a link to plug it for him, but I guess I need to get permission first. (And since I did get his permission--see comments below, here it is. Go expand the mind and train the body.)

(That is the worst thing about these blogging "aliases" that I have established. I feel that you need to get clearance before you do anything involving people. Oh well, better that than getting stalked by some crazed internet fanatic--and I KNOW I've got to have some out there somewhere.)

Anyway, it was a successful weekend celebrating our national holiday. I hope you had a good one yourself.

evening update!

So, we decided to go out for dinner tonight. We were not jazzed about trying to fix dinner. We survived that . . . but only barely. The couple (with kids) to our three o'clock apparently got food for the kids but the parents never got theirs. The couple (with kids) to our twelve o'clock got their adult food so late that it was a mess. We survived by only having one of our children orders mixed up . . . which was rapidly replaced. So, lucky there.

The other interesting thing here was that when we got home, we got the kids in pajamas and started getting them ready for bed. Books began getting read and teeth were brushed. However, Ariel was explaing that she had not yet had dessert. Luckily, she had a plan. There was lots of candy left over from the parade earlier in the afternoon and so Ariel was going to have some of that.

Unfortunately, she wanted to take her lollipop upstairs to eat while Tegan was reading books to Ruth. This, you see, was not a good idea because then Ruth would want to have some candy. So, I told Ariel that she could decide: either stay downstairs eating her lollipop while I read her books or go upstairs (without lollipop) to listen to books.

Naturally, she decided her lollipop didn't taste all that good after all.

So . . . now I know that I can't get kids to hang out with me--even if I hang lollipops around my neck. :)

Remember this?

Tegan and I have spent the morning working in the yard--pulling weeds, cutting the grass, putting down new mulch, trimming limbs.

I am exhausted.

So, while I try to get some energy back, I decided to review progress on the 101 in 1001.

I have accomplished the following ones: 44, 70 through 73, 75, 84, 89.

Hey, I've made some good progress!

Happy Birthday to You

It's Tegan's birthday. She has grown up quite a bit since this photo was taken. But I still say you can see lots of Ruth in this little girl's face.

I have always known that marrying Tegan was the best decision I ever made and will ever make. And the best thing of all is that I have never doubted that choice a single time. And this comes from a person famous for second-guessing most every important choice I have ever made. But joining my life with her's was never up for debate.

We met in college. I was a sophomore and she was a freshman. We were both members of the Georgia Southern University Bell Honors Program--a scholarship program that selected a maximum of 18 students each year, kept each year's class together in special classes that were run like graduate school seminars. Each new group grew to become great friends or soon got tired of one another. And, each year's class had a built in group of friends, allies, mentors, potential apartment roomies, in the classes above and below them. When the new school year started, the upperclassmen would throw a welcoming party for the new group of freshmen. It was held at Honors House, an on-campus house dedicated for the BHPs use. I and my roommate Rampant Fox were the two students that lived at Honors House.

I still can't tell you why, but something about Tegan captivated me the first night I saw her. I talked to her most of the night, along with a couple of my friends. I was polite and brought her water to drink. Most other people were drinking, of course, but she wasn't interested and I wasn't either at that time. So, I brought her Coke to drink. (She later confessed to me that she worried that I was spiking her drink while in the kitchen.)

We were in different classes, but we saw each other a lot, walking between buildings. We soon ate lunches and dinners together and she often came over to Honors House to study, use the computers to write papers, and do laundry.

At first we were just friends and I can't tell you how and when, but I knew that things were different with her. I think my family knew something was different when I came home for Thanksgiving that year and spent a great deal of time being depressed and silent.

We've rarely been apart for any serious length of time since--except of course for that three weeks at Christmas when I was in Hawaii. (She still hasn't forgiven me for going and leaving her behind.)

We've been through a lot together, so much of it good and only some things bad. We've been very lucky over the years (blessed with wonderful family and equally wonderful friends), but we've also worked pretty hard to create the life that we now enjoy. I wouldn't want to significantly change the life that I have now, and so much of the reason for that is due to Tegan. She has made my life better, richer, more meaningful.

So, Happy Birthday T.
I love you.