(I hope you will all forgive the tardiness of this missive, it’s been quite a week, and given the fact the game is not on the coast this year, I like to think it can serve as a late in the week distraction from the work that you otherwise wouldn’t be doing because you’d be at the beach. I’m sorry you aren’t at the beach, you deserve to be at the beach. Why didn’t we get to have this game in London like the Jags?!).
In 2022, my Athens friends bullied me into joining a bowling league, going so far as to buy me bowling shoes and agreeing to pick me up on the way to the bowling alley. There were promises of Miller Lite and Coors Light. Eventually, they peer pressured me into getting my own bowling ball. We met some new people. One guy had a very calming demeanor, maybe because he was always bowling strikes. He had very blue eyes. His name was Knoah, and he seemed to find me amusing.
About a year later, I casually invited Knoah to my birthday party at Little Kings, and I hoped he would show up. He did. I asked his advice on how to be a better bowler. He told me to try walking straight. I was initially miffed by this advice, but it’s actually really effective and harder than it sounds! We spent that NYE at the bowling alley with a group of friends, and I thought he was going to kiss me when the clock struck midnight, but he didn’t. He’s still kicking himself about that.
We’ve had many adventures since then, many of them football related. We took a Spirit flight to New Orleans with no luggage for the Sugar Bowl. We agree on the important things, like standing up on third down and that Ed and Ike the bulldogs wear jerseys on Game Day. We try to never leave a game early unless we are stomping the other team. We believe in fresh clean towels, toasted pound cake, and the restorative powers of long walk in the woods and fellowship with friends.
We got engaged in Charleston over Labor Day, on John and Sarah’s neighbor’s dock, fresh off a Bulldawg victory over Marshall at Home Team. I did not make the proposal easy (I didn’t know!), including but not limited to stating I was going to jump in the water for a swim whilst Knoah was trying to get me to focus.
Upon deliberation on the precious yet precariousness of life, we decided there was no reason to delay joyous celebration with our loved ones. We got married last Saturday (on the bye obvi), in an intimate ceremony with just our immediate families, in the Nalley’s backyard, on the most glorious of fall afternoons.
Kate’s first cousin (my first cousin once removed), the Reverand Andy Menger, married us. As Trav responded that he and Kate were the ones to give me away, kissing me on the cheek, and handing me off to Knoah, I looked into Knoah’s impossibly blue eyes, and then out into the backyard where the votives were already dancing on the table in the grass.
Cousin Reverend Andy got as far as, DEARLY BELOVED…at which point I had to say, WAIT WAIT, SOMETHING IS ON FIRE! The vague burning smell that I’d initially bizarrely thought could be incense? That was actually the lovely table cloth the wind had blown onto the votives where it caught fire.
SIL Heather rushed to the flames, which were already getting out of hand, and luckily the bartender hurdled a hedge with a pitcher of water and saved the day. The rest of the ceremony was lovely.
Libations with additional friends and family were enjoyed after the ceremony. Well into cocktail hour, Cousin Reverend Andy casually mentioned that he hadn’t signed the marriage license, and until he did, we were not actually married, and did I know where said marriage license might be? Friends, I assume you all know that I left the marriage license at Kate and Trav’s house, and SIL Heather again came to the rescue by going to retrieve it. Y’all know I spilled red wine on my dress, but just a tiny bit and at the very end of the night and it wasn’t my fault!
Knoah and I gallivanted off to the Greystone Inn for a totally fabulous night on Sunday, and came back to Athens on Monday, to snuggle with the bulldogs and settle into married life in this happy little football town. Look us up next time you visit. If it’s a Game Day, our house is your house, and the rest of the year we are always jazzed to meet you at Little Kings. In the summer we’ll even meet you at Cafe Racer, Mama’s Boy, or, everyone’s favorite, The Last Resort.
And in the meantime, I hope everyone is ready to TURN IT LOOSE IN THE ATL THIS WEEKEND! Gah, it’s so crazy the game is at the Benz this year, I wish we were going, but what with getting married and everything, we are not going to make it. Are they going to open the roof?! I HOPE SO! Also, how much do y’all want Peanut to turn it loose?
Please take the time to bark at each other on Marta, text your college roommate, call your cousin, buy a tshirt from a vagrant, high five a stranger, and as always, stand up on third down.
With so much happiness and Bulldawg love and affection –
Charlsie Kate Paine and Knoah Paul Laney (and Ed and Ike the bulldogs)
P.S. I’m bad a social media but I made a share album that is still a work in progress, but please enjoy some wedding photos along with a few select other photos. I had to update my phone to make this even kind of work, you’re welcome, it might get updated with more photos but no promises, the bullies are furious I’m not already sitting on the couch with them. XO
P.P.S. Please forgive me for any and all poor communication related to the above events, everything happened fast and y’all know my executive functioning could stand some improvement, I love you, and appreciate your patience with me.
