![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Dressblacksuit-119x300.jpg?resize=119%2C300\")
I have a wonderful family, I really do. But one niece is insisting that since her son wants me to be an usher in his February wedding, that I must …
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\n“…wear a tux, bow tie, and (horribly dorky) patent-leather shoes.” No exceptions. “You will wear what everyone else in the wedding party will wear.”<\/p>\n
Suffice it to say, this won’t happen. Sure, I love my niece and Great Nephew. But I think my GN should have ushers in his wedding more close to his age. We have a 35-year age difference.<\/p>\n
The only reason I was asked to be in the wedding in the first place is that the bride-to-be is having 14 — yes, 14! — attendants in her bridal party, so my GN felt that he had to match the number with his groomsmen. Asking me was an honor (and recognition of my relationship as a motorcycle riding instructor for my GN), but admittedly was only done to build up the groom’s party to match one-for-one with the bride.<\/p>\n
This is going to be a HUGE event, with some 300 people on the guest list. Yowza!<\/p>\n
Last night, I had a long conversation with my niece and her son. After she said what she said (about requiring a penguin suit) and saw the look of shock and horror on my face, we had a deeper conversation and came up with a resolution: I would not be insulted to be “uninvited” for service as a groomsman, and they asked another one of my brothers (who lives in a suit) to serve in that role. I was released and frankly, quite relieved. <\/p>\n
Why not go to the wedding reception? Heck, in this level of froo-froo wedding — the marriage ceremony is at 2:00pm, followed by having to drive 20 miles to a hotel for a “cocktail hour” before the real reception which does not begin until 7:00pm. The reception will go on late into the night.<\/p>\n Fooey… <\/p>\n I don’t drink; I don’t dance. Again, I can’t stand wedding receptions. <\/p>\n I have already gotten my GN a great gift — a new pair of motorcycle boots. (But those are for Christmas.) For his wedding, I will give them a generous check that he and his wife can spend on their honeymoon (to Europe) or after they settle into their new home as a married couple.<\/p>\n Life is short: stand your ground — in boots!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have a wonderful family, I really do. But one niece is insisting that since her son wants me to be an usher in his February wedding, that I must …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AllenEdmondsWalnutDalton-269x300.jpg?resize=269%2C300\")
<\/a>Now… give me strength … I’ll put on a monkey suit with dress boots<\/a> and go to the church service on the wedding day. I will also see family at pre-wedding parties. But consistent with my nature, my niece and GN know that I will skip the reception. <\/p>\n