Hilmar & Sonja: Happily Ever After

See the photo album!When I moved from Berlin to New York in 2007, I asked my good friend Hilmar to look after my (then-) girlfriend Sonja. She had just moved to Berlin and didn't know many people. "Give her a call every-once-in-a-while and invite her out with everyone," I told him. Little did I know that he intended to look after her for the rest of his life. I couldn't be happier.Hilmar and Sonja got married in the most storybook of weddings. The ceremony took place in an 800 year old church that shared a past with his family lineage. The reception was held just down the hill and past the pond on the grounds of Palace Rattey. All that was missing was a Fairy Godmother.It was a youthful, intimate affair, filled with so many of the people who have unknowingly changed my life immensely. Some I have known for nearly half my life. Others, like my top-bunk bed roommate Daniel von Marzahn, I had only met that weekend. I also (finally) got to meet Sonja's family - and I'm on informal terms with them speaking-wise. That's a big deal... I think.Following the midday wedding, there was a champagne reception which a colony of bees unkindly crashed. A late afternoon pause soon followed, allowing us to regroup for round two. You didn't think a Kaiser von Oertzen wedding would only include one reception, did you?! We still had to eat and dance and toast and drink the house out of alcohol!The first dance, per tradition, was the waltz, which I shared with Hilmar's cousin Freia. I thought back to the dance lessons Jan gave me all those years ago, then grabbed a couple of last-minute pointers from Torsten. It was to no avail. Following the dance, Freia promptly went off to dance with Hilmar's brother Achaz. I can't blame her.The last dance, per the request of our adopted Texans Matti and Hilmar, was Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places." Because of course it was!Brunch came much too early, as is its wont, but Daniel v Marzahn and I made it thanks to the intrepid driving of our chauffeur Uncle Dieter. With my head in a fog, Matti burst in the room saying "Someone here gave seven U.S. cents to the offering plate yesterday. Who could that have been?" All eyes on the American. The one and only. Howls of laughter.Look, I didn't really leave seven cents as an offering. I mean, not just seven cents. The change was part of a larger package. When it came time to give, I grabbed a couple of euros out of my wallet. All that was left in my pouch was a nickel and two pennies, so I decided to give those as well. I thought maybe the church would get a kick out of that. I don't know. I just didn't think that Hilmar and Matti would be the ones counting the change."As long as it jingles, right Chad?" Matti nudged me with a sly smile on his face.Finally, sadly, it was time to say goodbye. I spoke with both families, then Sonja, and finally, Hilmar. I told them all how proud I was, thanked them for a beautiful weekend (a beautiful life!), and wished the newlyweds nothing but the best as they moved forward in life together. Hilmar and I embraced. Then embraced again. And again. For the life of us, we just couldn't let go. We both got fairly emotional. As the tears began to well, one of us mentioned "seven cents." Laughter. Another inside joke. Suddenly the tears of sorrow turned in to tears of joy. It was the most beautiful goodbye I've ever shared.I then left the two together, where they lived happily ever after.See the photo album!