Ye Olde Ball and Chain

It's another wedding weekend. One of my oldest son's friends is getting married. Sort of. The couple was married in Jamaica last winter, but most of their relatives and friends from the Yukon couldn't be there, so they're having another ceremony here on Sunday afternoon.

Last night was the bachelor party. Oldest son was given the job of welding the ball to the chain so they could shackle the groom to it. He hurried home right after work to do that because the party started at 7:00 pm. Yep, it started early because the bachelor, being an old married man and all, didn't want to be out late.

Welding the ball to the chain went well enough. They were going for the medieval look and they succeeded. The real problem came in deciding how to attach the ball and chain to the groom/husband/Marlon's ankle. Someone had bought a shackle, but they thought it looked like it would be a little tight.

I told them that I'd heard that Martha Stewart finds her ankle bracelet annoying, so a little pain probably just goes with the ball-and-chain territory, but they ignored me.

Someone suggested just wrapping the chain around the ankle and padlocking it, but that seemed like it might be a bit painful, too. They discussed various ways of padding the chain in order to increase comfort, but those ideas were discarded on stylistic grounds.

Their final solution? They went for the padlocked chain, with one of them carrying the ball whenever Marlon walked anywhere in order to spare him the discomfort of the weight of the chain pulling against his ankle.

What's happening to young men nowadays? Even a ball and chain must be stylish and comfortable!