“And do you, Mint Kaylan, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” said the Judge.

“I do,” said Mint. Her voice was hushed and somber. Carrying just a hint of barely contained emotion.

Man...It’s been a while since I’ve cracked this old file open. Will I ever publish this? I have no clue. Honestly, I’ve added and deleted entries with such regularity that I’m not entirely sure what’s in this anymore. I’m pretty sure that if I do publish this diary of mine as some kind of memoir, I’m going to have to have it edited down and heavily sanitized. I have too many secrets that can never get out. Ever.

Most likely this diary of mine will just be something that I keep locked up. I’ll pass it down to my kids who’ll maybe make their own diaries that they’ll pass down to their kids. Inherited memory is nice and all, but it lacks a certain context that only writing things down or telling things directly can provide. So maybe I’ll do that. And hopefully, reading about my ups and downs will help them. Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll just put aside somewhere and forget about it.

I don’t know...Maybe I’m just being maudlin. There’s nothing like watching one of your kids get married to make you start feeling old again.

I know what you’re thinking, I’m thinking it too. It sounds a little ridiculous to say but I’ve never felt this old, considering I’ve seen multiple big bangs. I’ve seen multiple civilizations grow from playing with sticks and fire to flying through the stars and playing harnessing the power of neutron stars and then watched those same races annihilate themselves till they were back to playing with sticks and fire.

Yet, it’s true. As I walk my Mint down the aisle to leave her with this strange life form with two eyes, two ears, one mouth, and a nose that I honestly wish I could break for him, I’m feeling positively ancient. It was only a few years ago that I was dropping her off at school for the first time. Now she was getting married. Then she’d have her own kids, who’d have their kids, and who’d have their kids…

… And damn, am I looking forward to being a grandfather now? I was just waxing maudlin about how fast it was that my Mint was suddenly getting married, now all of a sudden I can’t help but look forward to seeing what her pups look like.

Whatever...In any case, Mint was getting married today. We wanted to make it a massive affair with all the who’s who of our multiverse. We wanted to make it into a grand event that even the gods and devils would try their best to get invites. Mint, being humble and low-key, made us roll it back to just direct family and friends, in one of my more picturesque private planets.

Oh, well...Maci, Henrietta, and I are already working on the other kids. We were still hoping that one of them would let us throw the big ostentatious wedding, we personally never wanted, but still think ‘they’ deserve. Why do we want this to be a thing? I don’t know. I think it comes from the instinct to show off one’s kids.

With tears in my eyes, I watched Mint give her vows to the big gangly man-creature that had stolen her heart. His name was Talbot Machado. Gregory Talbot-Kaylan. He worked at some publishing company in one of the channels in Uhrwerk. He and Mint met while she was taking a break from work, and then they kept meeting up.

His mother was a baker, his father was a soldier. He himself was also previously a soldier before getting an honorable discharge and entering the field of academics and writing. I’ve already mentioned that he’s tall like three times already, but he’s also pretty good looking in, in a boy-next-door kind of way. He had light brown skin, curly brown hair, and bright green eyes. He basically looks like a tall human teddy-bear, and actually has a minor amount of bearkin ancestry.

He’s a good guy, I know because I really outdid myself finding new ways to tap into the akashic realm and the collective unconscious. I saw no signs of eldritch, infernal, or divine mischief. I saw no signs of anyone trying to pull one over on my Mint.

I didn’t like the man, but I didn’t dislike him either. He had enough good points that I expected I’d eventually gain some fondness for the man who was stealing my daughter away. It’d just take time for me to forgive the initial theft. In the meanwhile, I’d quietly watch over the both of them to make sure no one out there thought they could be clever and use them against each other, or worse try to turn my Mint against her family.

Filomena was Mint’s Maid of honor. I think we were all surprised when Mint ended up beating little Fil by getting married first. Mint was always so...I don’t know, I want to say innocent but it sounds cringy, and it also makes it sound like she never had any relationships before old long legs here came around.

On the contrary, even if she was indeed a bit of a late-bloomer Mint still had her fair share of relationships, before Greg came around. There were even a number of awkward moments where we’d accidentally walk into a room while she and a beau were kissing and the like. Mint was just the type to take things at a slower pace. As outgoing as she was almost everywhere else, she was shy when it came to romance.

On the other hand, I don’t think we were going to have to wait too long for Filomena to get hitched. She was celebrating her third anniversary with a long time boyfriend. His name was Martin Fry. It took me a second to realize it, but we were talking about the guy and I realized that it was the same guy who’d she’d dated a while before.

This was also roughly the point where I realized that Filomena and I shared “a type”. We had the guy over for dinner, and I saw next to Margot, and then I had this weird, almost out of body feeling that I was seeing what Margot would have looked like, if she were still her former self.

I mean they don’t “actually” look that similar. Margot was the small thing with big glasses, pale skin, and it was like she was afraid of everything when I met her. Martin was this big broad bodied chap, with bronzed skin, blond hair, and well, they shared the glasses a bit, but so do a lot of people.

I think it was the slightly mad, almost overwhelming ambition. Martin had the same, I’m going to take over the world one day, vibe that Margot used to have. Used to have? Ha! Look at me speaking, like she still isn’t the same kind of crazy. Though time and maturation had tempered her ambition, my first wife’s inner-fire still burned brightly and loved her all the more for it.

Also, looking at the guy’s past, Martin and Margot both seemed to have parental issues, but I think that was just an unfortunate coincidence than evidence of some kind of type. Anyway, I was feeling optimistic about maybe seeing myself walking another daughter down the aisle, not too long from now.

In the meantime, I watched my Mint and her new husband kiss and then I clapped with the rest of the guests. Then after throwing rice and seeing them drive off into the sunset. I turned my attention towards the stars where another, much larger, copy of my body resided, and was busy smacking the utter shite out of this dumbass cosmic monster that was trying to invade terminus-earth’s reality.

“Seriously, mate? On my daughter’s wedding day?! When you reincarnate I hope you think about how stupid you’ve been just now,” I said. As I choked the life out of a being that technically should have no need for air.