Late last year, my youngest brother-in-law stood before me, his family and his friends to affirm and articulate his love and commitment for his fiancee.  They are now “husband and wife.”  I refused to pronounce the couple “man and wife,” since the groom is about 6’5″ tall and has been a man for as long as I can remember.  Family members on both sides gushed with positive comments and couldn’t remember when they had attended a wedding so moving, nor seen a bride more beautiful.  I nodded in agreement but found myself rapturously enveloped with visions of my bride when she raced down the aisle to exchange nuptuals with me.  Well, maybe she didn’t race.  But my heart did . . . and still does.

When couples present themselves to a minister, priest, rabbi, etc., and blindly declare their love for one another and request the services of their preferred officiant, one wonders if they understand the scope and magnitude of what they’re asking.  I love my brother-in-law (all of them, believe it or not) and his new bride.  Her family is wonderful . . . and normal.  My wife’s parents are gold, so I couldn’t ask for better in-laws, except for that guy who shows up at all the family events and nobody seems to know his name.  For the record, I’m a bit of a romantic and believe that marriage is truly a divine gift.  God knew what he was doing when he noticed Adam trying to share his heart with an alligator snapping turtle and then decided to induce sleep, spare a rib and create wo-man.  Try as he may, it’s not good for a man to be alone.

So now my brother-in-law is not alone and he’s joined others in our family who have consented to monogomous bliss.  Though we refer to it as an institution, marriage is anything but.  It’s an organism – a living thing – and so it must be nurtured and protected.  For those who have celebrated at least double-digit anniversaries, you know that marriage is work.  Hard work.  Glorious work.  Which reminds me of why most people like to attend weddings.  The joy of knowing something that the bride and groom haven’t discovered yet is truly intoxicating.  Besides, a great destination wedding like my brother-in-law’s may include a stay at a beautiful house near the beach.  All my in-laws stayed with us, or us with them, depending on your perspective – a gift from my father-in-law.  We shared the entire house and everything was deemed community property, except our underclothes.  The fruit of marital labor is that you get to keep your underwear.

In fact, two of my brothers-in-law got married last year.  I offer a gesture of congratulations to both of them.  We’ve all joined that fraternity of men who have married up and realize that we are minor league players in major league parks!  Pitchers and catchers report soon.  Better go find my glove.

2012 rolled in like a thunderstorm and we were breathless watching one year come to a close while the next presented itself without permission.  We make few resolutions in our household but I decided that it was time to start blogging . . . seriously.  I don’t expect anyone to read this except perhaps those in our family who collect Social Security each month.  Then again . . . maybe they have better things to do.

Without fanfare and Super Bowl commercial appeal, here’s our new blog.  Enjoy it.  Ignore it.  Close the page and open Facebook or Linked In.  Whatever your digital psyche prefers.  The college football season is officially over and there’s much to be said (and discovered) when the rhethoric subsides and the televisions are strangely silent each night.  Looks like we’re in for a season of NetFlix and bad reality shows.  But we’re glad to be here and share our story with you.  Thanks for listening.