When Weird People Get Married

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least have one blog post here to talk about yoyos. If you are a new fan who found me without going through the YoYo world, here’s a bit about that maddness.

This photo was taken at my wedding. We had a very serious discussion beforehand and agreed that while I’d have my YoYo on my belt for most of the evening, I’d take it off for the actual ceremony. Which I forgot to do. There has literally been less than a dozen days in the past decade where I’ve not had a yoyo on my belt. My wife and I are both entertainers, and neither of us wanted a traditional wedding. Her because there are more fun ways to plan a party, and me because I didn’t want to treat my friends and loved ones like dirt. “hey, can you give up one of the few Saturdays of the summer to watch me get married, sit around for 3 hours waiting for photos, then sit in a hall listening to speeches all evening?

So we had a Cabaret show with a wedding ceremony as the finale. I delivered a YoYo performance, my wife sang, friends of ours did a light-up poi routine, a burlesque routine and a drag number. 5 years later we still have people commenting that it was the best wedding ever. 11 years ago I was a regular grade 2 teacher. Then the NED show performed at an assembly and sold all the kids yoyos. I bought one with the intent of learning enough to help my students. 11 years later I’ve won 2 national titles, founded the Canadian Yoyo association, built my own succesful YoYo brand, and started an author career by writing a series of guidebooks to the modern world of YoYo. 

Maddness I tell you! 

My wife, bless her heart, not only tolerates my passion for this age-old sport, she revels in the fact that I have this really cool skill and the drive to do something with it. Pretty much any time we are out in public, she finds someone who just absolutely needs to ”check out this cool thing my husband can do!”. 

Author Robert Fulghum wrote “We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love.”

That sums up my wife and I beautifully. We are playmates and we are weird together. This blog post started out about my YoYo hobby and ended up about my wife. But that’s OK, since that’s an accurate description of my life, a fact I’m grateful for every day.

-J.D. McKay

p.s. It’s Irish formalwear, you can tell by the Harp’s on the buttons and the cut of the jacket. The Sporin is Scottish though, it was a gift from a friend. I get asked often when I share this photo.