Mama Mia

August 21, 2006

Stephen, an old friend of mine from college, was in town from LA over the weekend, and I made arrangements to meet him and his boyfriend, Scott, for Saturday brunch. Although they're both from the East Coast, Stephen doesn't like flying very much and doesn't come this way very often, but his sister is getting married in Boston, and he decided to visit his friends in New York while he was "in the neighborhood.”

We spent the first few minutes together trying to figure out exactly how long it had been since we'd seen each other. Neither of us could remember. Five years? Ten?

"Seven, I guess."

"So what's new?" I asked as we got settled into our booth at the restaurant.

"Well," said Stephen. "Scott and I got married. Did you know that?"

"Really?" I said. He and Scott have been together for a long time — longer than any other couple I know. Ceremony or not, I've always thought of them as married anyway. "Congratulations."

Anticipating that I might ask why I wasn't invited, they clarified that it wasn't exactly a wedding.

"We go our official Domestic Partnership," said Scott.

"That's cool. I went to a friend's lesbian wedding in Toronto. They had a City Hall ceremony in a cozy room with pews, plants, and other decorations. It was actually very nice."

"Yeah, well. Ours wasn't anything like that," they said in unison, each a little embarrassed.

"All we had to do was download a form from the internet and get it notarized," said Scott. "The closest notary we could find was at one of those box stores where you ship stuff. The lady didn't even look at us when she gave us the stamp. She was straining over her shoulder, trying to tell one of the other employees how to do something, and just stamped our form like she was canceling a letter."

"It was a little depressing," said Stephen.

"We mostly just did it so we'd have domestic partnership status for legal reasons," said Scott. I can't imagine having a real wedding and all that, anyway."

"There's going to be enough drama for everyone at my sister's wedding,” said Stephen.

"Why?" I asked. "What sort of drama?"

"Have you ever been to an Italian wedding?" Scott asked.

"Yes."

"Was there a fist fight?"

"No," I laughed.

"I don't think I've ever been to an Italian wedding where there wasn't a fight. Either way, there's definitely going to be a fight at this one."

"My other sister doesn't get along with my father's new girlfriend," Stephen explained. "They've had fights before. I mean real knock-down, drag-out fights. My sister, the one who is getting married, has hired two guys to come to the wedding as bouncers. She told my other sister, 'If you start any trouble, you WILL be ejected.' I think she'll behave herself."

"No, she won't," said Scott.