By Sarah LevyOriginal Source: nytimes.com
Weddings are for partying.
I learned this much at my first wedding reception. I was 6, and a flower girl in my cousin’s bridal party. It was 1996, and I heard songs like “Macarena” and Hootie & the Blowfish’s “Only Wanna Be With You” for the first time. I danced for hours in my pink floor-length dress, emerging sweaty and exuberant at the end of the night.
“I love weddings!” I screamed at my parents as they put me to bed.
Weddings are also an escape from reality, a few fairy-tale hours. As an anxious child, I loved to escape. I lost myself in stories and make believe, creating and retreating into universes that felt safer than my own.
This urge to escape had evolved into a complicated relationship with alcohol. I was a...click here to continue reading
