It was a sweet coincidence that this one happened to fall only a few days before the anniversary of our own. Last year, we were in the middle of getting ready to move out of temporary housing in Seattle and also just getting back from a different wedding (sans extended vacation), so our anniversary sort of sneaked up on us. We celebrated, of course, but it felt a little fly-by. This time, everything was much more relaxed, and the wedding was the perfect event to remind us of how we felt when it was our turn -- not to mention a great lead-in to a second honeymoon of sorts.
The wedding was entirely in Spanish, which I don't speak, but the similarities to French helped me understand more of the ceremony text than I expected to. The rhythm of the language made the service especially beautiful too -- but nothing could compete with the groom's smile when he saw his bride as she entered the church and the demure, trusting look in her eyes as they gave their vows. There was a calmness that I haven't seen between many couples in that moment -- usually there's a hint of nervousness on somebody's face -- and there was certainty. That steady, relaxed vibe set the mood for the rest of the evening.
The happiness at the reception was contagious -- parents, siblings, and family friends all mixing and laughing and dancing. The Seattle contingent shared one table with a few other people in the under-30 age group. After dinner, the men (and some of the women!) went outside to the courtyard to smoke cigars -- there was a person rolling them near the bar -- and this being a true Cuban party, we joined the groom to toast(?) him. D and his officemates are not smokers, so this was like watching high schoolers learning how to take a puff for the first time (yes, there was choking and coughing and eyes watering profusely). But as more seasoned cigar aficionados explained to us, you don't have to inhale; you just draw the smoke into your mouth for the flavor, then blow it out. The things I never thought I would learn ...
In the end, the men did all right, though during our dinner in Little Havana on the next night, they admitted to waking up with a horrible taste in their mouths. I have a feeling tobacco won't be habit forming with this crowd!
D and I got a few dances in during the evening, which I was quite proud of. D and I have never done any Latin dancing, so we had to make it up as we went. But we actually fit right in (no collisions, falls, or lost toes). I give D the credit for being a good lead -- our waltz lessons for our own wedding were invaluable.
I know I like to think of myself as fairly independent-minded and self-sufficient, but there are moments when being taken care of is a really good feeling. I think this vacation was a chance for D to do that (D's having lived briefly in Miami made him able to navigate the area with more assuredness than most tourists have, with access to insider knowledge on what was worth seeing), and just letting him lead was very comfortable. It's an adjustment after nearly a year apart, but it's something I'm learning to make room for in our dynamic. I worry sometimes that I will lose some aspect of my self-sufficiency, but in reality, there is no power struggle. He simply opens some of the harder-to-clear paths that I might otherwise have more trouble exploring on my own. I just hope that I do enough of the same for him.
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