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Mercie and Dan’s Wedding

Coasting down route 36, the Flatirons of Boulder, Colorado, grew larger by the minute. Memories flashed like road signs in the side-view mirror: like the time Heather accidentally sat on a fire ant hill on the side of the road; or the time I biked from Arvada to Boulder and flew down this decline like the red baron in an old Charlie Brown segment; or the many trips coming back from the hospital as we endured our experience with an ectopic pregnancy in 2019. Capa riding with us in the back seat to Mercie and Dan’s wedding at Pastures of Plenty has proverbially turned this sloped road into a rotary, and as we came full circle we turned to look at him and smile.

We first met Mercie when we were living in Arvada and she was working as a hostess at the same restaurant Heather was working at. Mercie always welcomed me into the foyer with the same bright smile, full of a genuine enthusiasm that most hostesses do their best to feign. Heather and I got to know Mercie and Dan as a couple when we took their engagement photos at Rollins Pass in Nederland a couple years later. It was quickly apparent that they share a wavelength--understanding each other through an invisible yet palpable electromagnetism--as after every photo they seemed to draw closer and closer together.

Fast-forward to 2021 and Mercie and Dan had a water slide at their wedding (in case it was too hot). And also appointed their young siblings as their officiants, DJs, emcees, and baby caretakers (For real, one of them took Capa mid-ceremony so I could take pictures). Everywhere you turned there was a role that Mercie and Dan empowered one of their siblings with. Where most couples cater their event to themselves--Mercie and Dan catered it to their family. A Captain Hook shy of Neverland and a religious scripture short of the Garden of Eden, Mercie and Dan’s wedding was a beautiful fantasy of love, support, and purpose. And they all made it a reality.

There were several moments at Mercie and Dan’s wedding where I had to stand back and ask, “is this really happening?” It got to the point where if one of the bubbles floating in the air turned into a glowing fairy I wouldn’t have batted an eye. I am apt to refrain from using words like ‘magic’ or ‘miracle’ when describing a wedding, couple, or family, but Mercie, Dan, and company made it really hard to describe it as anything else. The way that they spoke to all of their various members of their extended family: in soft affirmations, playful directions, and empowering words of encouragement, they reminded me of the way that Snow White spoke to her woodland friends. The exception, of course, is that Disney is a contrived monolith and Mercie and Dan are living, breathing, beautiful humans of sensitivity and intention.

As each of our families evolve and grow I can only hope to embody the acceptance and trust that Mercie and Dan cultivate on an everyday basis. It takes great patience, an even better understanding, and a dedication to emotional communication. While Heather and I already valued each of these attributes we were and are in complete admiration of Mercie and Dan’s intention and execution. It isn’t fairy dust that creates the magic in our reality, it is our thoughts converted into action.