Sunday I went to Ash's wedding! It turned out to be a lovely day; witnessed an inspiring ceremony, spent charming time with Anna (camilleyun) for the first time in person (after knowing zir for many years online), visited GORGEOUS river & woods, and had many interesting conversations. I rode with elya (my partner's twin) and Miss K (my partner's parent) on the way to the falls after the ceremony and we had a fascinating conversation about how we define our morals and what our core values are (which is something I want to post on! feel free to guess my top 5 values :D). Then at the falls Anna and I sat in the shade (because I came completely unprepared for water or sun or slippery rocks) and talked about the nature of communication and connection. It was a really encouraging conversation and I felt really at home with Anna; I look forward to meeting up again ♥ Eventually those attempting to heat the grill admitted defeat and we headed back to Ash's to FINALLY have some food. There, Wolf and I had a really fascinating conversation about intellectual and spiritual responsibility and our slightly-different-but-still-agreeing views on the use of 'force' (manipulation, authoritative behavior), and then Ash and Stuart and Wolf discussed the balance of marriage (and I piped in every now and then). It was really great to spend more time with Nikki and Wolf, especially Wolf because I realized that while zir language can be very gendered, ze doesn't actually believe in most of the sexist concepts that zir language would seem to imply (I'm not talking about rude stuff -- I'm talking about phrases like "guy talk" or "you know women and shoes"). So while it still makes me twitch a bit, it doesn't bother me like it would otherwise. And when I say something contradictory in response ze doesn't get defensive or annoyed, so I don't feel like I need to bite my tongue all the time. And I just really enjoy zir company! Ze's one of the most warm and open-minded (yet stubborn! a rare combo which I enjoy :D) people I've ever met.

The whole group just had such a great dynamic! Next time I want to add in Viv, Sara, Shel, Ryan, Kat K, and maybe one or two others -- I actually have local people who I'd call FRIENDS. How fucking insanely fantastic is that???





I dunno what they were high-fiving about but what a cute moment! I love Nikki's hair toss too :D

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elya in light blue, Nikki in pink, Miss K in deep blue, Stuart's sis in the awesome skirt

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I love photos of people taking photos :D

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Wolf and Nikki officiating!

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isn't Ash's dress awesome?

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Ash reading zir vows (I love Wolf's grin)

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Ash listening raptly to Stuart's vows, aww

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handfasting!

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Ash glowing like a deity!

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I love the colors in this

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I love this one 'cause it's so genuine -- they were laughing :D

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cuties!

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Miss K trying to arrange Ash, who was being difficult

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hee hee!

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*glomp*

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toast!

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listening to a really sweet toast, after which Ash said, "I was good with the not-crying until now!"

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their wedding cake was cupcakes!

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Ash at the entry point to the gorgeous trail that was the second most beautiful place I've ever been ♥

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Anna being gorgeous :D

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I took almost no photos of the water, but there's elya pointing and Miss K next to zir!

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I look really strange, which is fitting considering the whirl of emotions I was working with and the lack of sleep (I woke up after 5.5 hours of sleep and couldn't get back to sleep :-/) But I was actually feeling pretty calm and happy to be among such lovely people in such a stunningly beautiful place.

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Anna, Alivia, and Ash

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S and Alivia (poor S lost zir glasses and hurt zir wrist :-()

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Anna and zir husband Josh

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there were these AMAZING trees with gorgeous blossoms everywhere... I think they may have been a clonal colony. They were probably technically shrubs, because I can't find any info on them. The bark was really smooth and the leaves were entire, opposite, unlobed, elliptic, slightly revolute, and acute.

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