8 years ago today ...

... I was running around town getting some last minute plans together. Family and friends were gathering from all around. Seven of my closest friends would stand up with me the next day, and they along with another cadre of 10 or so all paraded me around town for awhile. I wore a two-sizes-too-small baseball uniform and belted out "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the Winco parking lot.

One friend was able to get us into a junior high school gym where we had the coolest game of whiffle ball ever.

Groomsmen and other friends were all invited to stay at my hotel room that night. Elsewhere in the city, a nervous bride-to-be had an equally non-licentious night with her close friends.

Someone had a PlayStation for the hotel room. But the hotel TV was hardwired so that you couldn't connect ancillary devices. However, one member of our entourage, already trained as a locksmith, pulled a McGeyver with some electrical tape and clever wiring and was able to bypass this. So we enjoyed several more hours of gaming before about 7 guys crashed on beds or floorspace throughout the room.

Six months of planning was essentially over. It was the end of a chapter of my life.

Tomorrow I would earn a new title: husband.