Kalie and Joe got married on the lawn in Yellow Pine.

If it sounds like a John Cougar Mellencamp song, it kind of was.

Her father Jeff, dressed in his Class A’s, along with Kalie’s Doberman pinscher Maico, walked her across the porch, down the steps, through the freestanding doors that her mother Ann had decorated with Kalie and Joe’s baby pictures and the word LOVE, past all the guests seated on wooden benches, past Ann, past Joe’s mom Phyllis, and Jeff’s brother, Rick, to cross the running water over a metal bridge Jeff made, to stand with Joe under the decorated log covering, next to her twin sister, Cassie, and their dear friends.

Cassie’s husband, Brian, and their babies, Olivia and Callan, walked the aisle, too.

Kalie wore a beautiful strapless white dress with a train, and she and her bridesmaids carried bouquets of wildflowers they had gathered earlier in the mountains above Yellow Pine.

Willie, Yellow Pine’s resident Santa, with a real beard and real heart for the part, served as officiant. His appearance was questionable because he had apparently gotten the virus brought by Olivia and Callan, which made its way through the family, one after another, taking people out for 24 hours, before they popped back up. Everyone was standing by wedding time, except Tom, who toughed it out in The Epic Van, parked in our usual spot behind the house, next to our regular, companionable neighbors, Deputy Dave and Casey.

Chuck and Terri were there. I call Terri my sister from another mother because of our matching long curly gray hair, and when Chuck turned casually and said, “We better sit down, dear,” I happily followed along, being the only upright half of a couple. We saved a seat for Terri, and we all laughed about Chuck’s mistaken invitation.

After the vows, guests moved the benches out of the way, put up folding tables, and set them with tablecloths, decorations and china that Ann had gathered and sorted into wooden boxes and baskets for each table. Each table also got a package of pastel butter mints, which Jeff calls “old lady” mints, but are delicious, maybe because I’m an old lady. Really, as a paramedic, he hates them because they are a choking hazard, demonstrated effectively by Casey, who coughed for many minutes but survived.

Tim, the former owner of The Corner, the only restaurant in Yellow Pine, made pulled pork tacos, stuffed with grilled onions and peppers, topped with crunchy coleslaw and Jeff’s fiery salsa.

Merle and Nicki, whose log cabin we helped (for five minutes) to build, manned the bar, mixing up signature cocktails, including The Schleicher (Joe’s last name) and my favorite, made with tequila and grapefruit juice, The Maico Marg, and The Baxter, a whisky and water named for their other dog, an oversized Boston Terrier.

Ann and I made the homespun cake, which was decorated with flowers and “Mr. & Mrs.” from wooden rounds that Ann made.

A couple played guitar and sang during the cocktail hour, and then the crowd danced on the lawn under the stars with sparkling wands.

The setting was perfect, because Kalie and Joe met in Yellow Pine, at a gathering at Willie and Candy’s house, where Joe hung out enough that Willie and Candy affectionately claim him as another of their kids.

They live in Boise now, but Yellow Pine will always be their beginning.

The leadup to the wedding was relaxed, with people going to the Ice Hole to swim, going on bike rides, eating on the porch and putting the last touches on the decorations, including little tags “Take a shot, we tied the knot.” on tiny bottles of Fireball, Crown Royal, tequila and vodka.

The ceremony was set for the day before the annual Harmonica Festival, during which the town, population 32 according to the 2020 census, swells to a couple thousand. So those who stuck around could wander up the hill to hear the three days of music, check out the vendor booths, sample the epic grilled cheese and ice cream bars from the food trucks, and talk to all the locals who sit in front of Steve and Sue’s store and share the news.

Like Joe, sharing the news that Willie and Candy’s wedding present was the bench where Kalie and Joe sat the night they met.

Well, ain’t that America?