I love all seasons - the unfurling green of spring, the lazy heat of summer, the cuddly cold of winter - but love fall best. It seems to me that fall is a groovy time of aha moments and general personal harvest. Weird? Maybe, but if I look back it seems like the biggest revelations have dropped out of fall.

Enter yesterday.

I have two weddings, for the sake of anonymity the first wedding and the second. They contact me at the same time about the same date. The 2nd express early on a desire to have an officiant they can connect with and meet me before booking. Then both couples try to book on the same day - the 1st are ahead by a nose, but the 2nd met me so they get dibs. For about an hour, then 1sts venue calls them and tells them they can't accommodate and the couple have to look elsewhere. They choose a venue that can only do an earlier start time and bingo, I can do both. Over the course of the summer and immediate week we sort out the details and all systems go.

Because I have to leave right after the first ceremony, I get to that one very early. I'm on hand to greet the groom and his boys, fine young men all. I'm also on hand to help set up unity candles and such. The brides mom looks very nervous, and she tells me that a suitcase containing a $3,000 projector, a substantial amount of cash, a laptop, the liquor license and...well, the wedding license...have been left in a cab. Possibly Admiral. The likely company is called, as are a few others in hopes of tracking it down. An extra helpful cop directing traffic nearby volunteers to call around and do what he can to track the item down. Everyone is working the problem and freaking out in equal measure when the bride arrives. This potential loss is a big party off switch, but we greet the bride, assure her everything is being done and then I promise to come back after my second wedding.

This shit happens. Sometimes a license is lost, or expires, or is forgotten. With so many guests present what I normally do is go through the ceremony anyway - you spend $$$ on an event, there should be a show - and meet up with the couple later to fulfill the legal bit. None of the guests have to know and all is well - they just get two anniversaries to remember. But I felt motivated to go out of my way so if the suitcase turned up, they could keep the date on all forms. Ceremony went off without a further hitch, I told them when to expect me next and was off.

Second wedding - brilliant people, mature beyond their years, had planned an extravaganza to celebrate their guests. Island wedding, private ferry. Saxophone player on each shore sending people off and welcoming them to ground, and then an outdoor wedding where everyone was welcome to speak. Except it was raining and the outdoor option was out of the question. All guest had to cram into the cozy clubhouse and be moved from one room to the next, assembled in x fashion, directed to create an isle, etc. My gifts in life are few butI do have a speaking voice that, while not actually able to raise the dead *can* stop the living in their tracks. Everyone hears me and follows instructions to the letter. Ceremony goes well, grooms and guests very happy they got me and I'm back off to the first wedding again.

I frequently get asked about my faith at weddings and say 'whatever people need' and leave it at that. The long answer is complicated and makes people frown, but here it is. I believe in an Other, whether this be a sentience or a connecting force between all life, don't know. Don't believe mortals who say they know, factually, who God is and what It wants. I maintain that if a persons religion makes them a better neighbour or friend, that's great. If it makes them think they're better than others I maintain that they've fucked it up and need to ditch whatever church or temple has been filling their head with beans. I think it's pretty much all the same Guy anyway, be that he/she/it/they/party of 12. That said I do occasionally pray To Whom It May Concern in the form of short memos giving thanks for specific moments. Although I've tried praying for stuff a few times as a kid, I think it's daft. I figure whatever is classifiable as God has other things to sort out than my BS, and adding my voice to the cacophonous din of people whining for shit - if it has any effect at all - might just piss It off. I have a brain, free will and opposable thumbs and am supposed to sort myself out. And yet, after finding out that Admiral had 1400 independent operators and that without a name or number an individual driver would be impossible to reach, I prayed for something on the way to the island. I thanked Whatever for the lesson and the opportunity, and asked it/she/he/they to bless the cab driver so that they might have the courage and grace to hand over the suitcase should they notice it.

Right, so I get back to the first wedding there's the projector, the laptop and (hallelujah) open bar - suitcase recovered. Still no marriage license though and it'll be after the speeches before anyone can go and look for it at the hotel. It sinks in that although it could be interpreted that a prayer got answered, I still had work to do. The brave bride asks what her options are, and I say so long as it gets there before midnight they can keep their date. I will cancel my plans and stay put. Both ask if I'm sure and I say things happen for a reason, I was supposed to be their officiant and had a duty to meet the challenge. And indeed, the license was found and we signed on a Victorian piano in the lobby of the oldest and most distinguished party venue in Toronto, all praise the day.

I got to hear the speeches though. Graceful, witty and above all grateful - not just from the couple but to the couple, for keeping people sane or in school, alive or on a good solid path. These two had already eased burdens and strengthened people, already made the world a better place and by uniting as a team could only get better at it. I got to help out some world changers yesterday and am very grateful for the opportunity. And - not to get too after school special or anything - feel I got nudged a little closer to the belief that Whatever is found in the best that people can do. From fathers to mothers to friends to cab drivers to cops to, with my brain and free will and thumbs, occasionally me.

Go autumn. Happy harvest everybody.