The story of the Key Lime Commandos.

I said I was going to see a beautiful wedding, and I was right.

So now Mary & James are married, after being together for 5-6 years. Now they're off in Bermuda fucking like rabbits exploring and having fun for a week.

It was fun getting to meet the parents of the two, and I learned that James's parents are a laugh riot, and you need to have a thick skin around them, because they'll easily make fun of you as they do their own kids. I think Wyatt was the constant target of good-natured ribbing, especially when his Prius was involved. Some got deflected onto me, but it was all in good fun.

I didn't get a whole lot of time with Mary's parents, although Mary's dad and I spent a good deal of conversation talking cameras and poking fun at my Canon brand loyalty...which is funny, because I have no problem with other cameras like Nikon. Canon just happens to be the brand I'm most familiar with, but I'd happily use others. Rules of exposure don't change. I also noticed that Mary's dad wibbles and pouts exactly like her, which was cute and adorable, especially when the reception ended and we all had to vacate the couple's new apartment. I'm willing to bet that once we left, it only took them about 4 seconds to get to the fun part of the evening.

For the second time in my life, I wore a tuxedo--the first time was my senior prom in high school when I went with lovely Carolyn (side note--it was also the night of the release of the 5th Harry Potter book, so after prom, we headed to B&N in full prom dress). The men in the group--Matt (James's brother), Wyatt and I, were dressed in these key lime-colored vests, which was an...interesting color choice, to say the least. Pastel greens on pasty, pale, white guys...probably not the best color choice in the world. Contrast, people. Needless to say, we called ourselves the Key Lime Commandos, and have the pics to prove it.

And while the whole thing was fun, beautiful, and loving, I have to say the best part of it was not having a sore ass by the end of it. I was a bit concerned that I was going to suffer for it, but in fact, no problems at all. When we got back to the hotel for a well-earned rest, my wife and I took advantage of the fact that we were on a full-sized bed and had some good sex.

An update on the medical front--the surgery (now a year old) is still slowly healing. The wound care doctor I've been seeing every 2 weeks wanted to try something new--something called a wound vac. In its very basic terms, it's exactly that--it's a foam insert shaped to the wound that creates a seal. That seal is hooked up to a vacuum--not a powerful one in a vacuum cleaner, but a machine that applies a constant slight negative pressure on the wound. The purpose of this is to draw the new healing, healthy tissue to the surface, where skin can grow over it and finally bring closure. It sounds pretty painless. And if it can expedite this recovery and finally bring it to an end, I'm willing to give it a shot. One problem--my insurance will only cover 50%, which wouldn't be bad if it didn't mean that I'd still be responsible for nearly $2400...PER MONTH for this device.

So the fact that this device costs nearly $5000 per month to use caused my doc to get visibly annoyed; he's now looking for other suppliers of this machine that won't cost so damn much. For once, I felt glad that a doctor was getting angry on my behalf--it sucks when a doctor wants to heal you only to be handcuffed by insurance companies. So for now, still using the silver-infused bandages--which, as mentioned, ARE WORKING, but just very slowly. It's keeping the wound very clean and not infected, so a big plus there.

Work has become extremely busy of late--the new casino down in NYC is opening up in a month: Aqueduct. Because my office deals with the hiring of new employees at all the Lottery-run casinos, we've been hit with hundreds of job applications (ranging from 5 to 45 pages, depending on the job they're applying for) that we have to review for completeness and criminal records. As such, overtime is currently being offered, and since the Governor is taking 3.3% out of my paycheck from now until April 2013 because of his using the State workforce as the scapegoat for the State's financial problems, I'll be taking advantage of a bit of it.

In two weeks, I'll be heading to Cape Cod for the first time in 10 months. Accompanied by April, Danielle C., and Ryan, we're gonna visit my family, stay with them for Columbus Day weekend, and head to King Richard's Faire to close out our Faire season, and DAMN IT I'M GOING. Not only have I not been to King Richard's in 2 years, but I haven't seen my family since last Christmas. THIS IS WRONG.

Coming up in a week, though, my wife and I will celebrate two years of marriage. They've been shitty. They've been rough. They've been difficult. Even though none of it has been the fault of April or I, the constantly getting fucked over by the Universe would probably be enough to end some couples' marriages. Not this one.

For even though they've been some of the most difficult times of my life, I wouldn't want to go through it with anyone else. I love you, April.