You know how, sometimes, you don’t make obvious connections? And then it hits you and you slap yourself on the forehead and say, “Well, of course!”

I was sitting in a pew in the chapel at St. Andrew’s Church in Abu Dhabi, moments before a wedding, when the light bulb went on.

“Hey, this is my second wedding in six days!”

Not my weddings, of course. The first of three weddings I will attend over a 22-day period.

It’s like I’m 25 or something.

This wedding involved a co-worker at The National, and most of the smiling people in the chapel were guys with whom I have worked for years, now, and their spouses or children.

(Another ah-hah moment, just this minute; I’ve worked with many of these guys, including the groom, in Abu Dhabi as long — or longer — than I did with many of the people from my early, “real” career. Hmm.)

The bride came with three bridesmaids, her sisters, and the best man was another guy I’ve worked with for five years, who made believe he had misplaced the rings. (A jokester.)

I sat in a clot of four National sports and photo people, two of whom were wearing suits(!). And in the middle section were three more co-workers, with their wives, and some other editorial people were on the right of the church … and I’m getting to the point where I have to concede I will remember them well. But I digress.

The service was officiated by a cheerful woman, the Anglicans being fine with the idea of women clergy, and she spent a half-hour on it the ceremony, with a brief homily and an interesting reading from Ecclesiastes. (Thank goodness it wasn’t 1 Corinthians 13.)

The bride and groom looked very happy, and the crowd was smiling, and we all went through the receiving line. More smiling.

Two more things.

1. We found out later that when the marrieds were filling out documents, they reached a part asking for marital status, and the groom checked “dissolved” and the bride’s only choice was … “spinster”, and she is 24.

2. The wedding happened during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month, and it is illegal to eat or drink in public during daylight, so there was no reception right after the ceremony. Which was OK, because a significant fraction of the witnesses had to go to the office and put out the paper, anyway.

Second wedding. One to go. The summer of marriage.