This past weekend, I was a groomsman in my good friend Patrick's wedding and it stirred up a lot of emotions. First and foremost, was a surreal sense of pride I've only really encountered twice before; at Mike/Larisa's wedding, and upon finding out that Wes and Ashley had gotten secretly married.
With Mike, it was my best friend kind of certifying his happiness. He and Larisa had already been together for a while, so the wedding didn't get me particularly emotional, but I did feel genuine and complete happiness for the guy whom I had known since I was 6 years old. Beyond the stereotypical "knows me better than I know myself," Mike has always had the ability to make me recognize that even the shittiest of situations would have an ending, and even as he had such a milestone that was most definitely (and rightfully so) focused on Larisa and him, he had me feeling like a million bucks by inviting me to be a part of it.
With Wes, here was a guy who had lived in multiple countries, on multiple coastlines and in all of the chaos of that (this coming from a dude who has lived within 200 miles of his hometown his entire life), he recognized an opportunity and had the balls to go for it, which made me so much more proud to call him friend, and even more so that he referred to me as the same.
Patrick and Betsy are some of the only couples that I have absolutely no hesitation in saying "they are perfect."
Now, this is not to say that I don't know a lot of couples that aren't awesome, but for those whom I know REALLY well, Patrick and Betsy get to join the ranks of couples whom I aspire to be like, joining the other two listed above.
Patrick, Wes and I used to all live together, and it will always be the source of some of my favorite memories, but what sets Patrick apart is this sense that he knows EXACTLY what he is doing, even if he confides later that he had no idea what he was doing.
When I met Betsy, I thought it was an interested juxtaposition of personalities, a calm and calculated fountain of knowledge and a fashion-forward spaz. But, Patrick knew exactly what he was doing: settling into a relationship with the last girl he would ever be with. He knew right off that he had found "the one," and acted accordingly, being one of the most faithful and true men I have ever seen. Even with no one else around, he would never disparage her, never act upset, even if they had a disagreement. He knew what he was doing.
Now he is the second friend to have not only invited me to their wedding, but asked me to be a part of it, not just to witness is, but to stand beside him as he made his decision official. I can't think of too many things that fill me with as much pride.
This wedding was made even more intense by being the first I've attended with Cal, and the first I've ever attended where I thought "Well, when I get married, I will do this rather than that," or "When I get married, I'm totally going to steal that idea." It wasn't that previous weddings were at all substandard, but that I had resigned myself to the idea that I probably wasn't going to get married. With my dad's record (0-3), and my string of awkward dates and sustained singledom, I didn't have much to look at except for Mike and Larisa, Wes and Ashley and Patrick and Betsy.
Each has given me the faith that I would know when I found "the one," and that it wasn't some stupid fucking movie bullshit. Well, I've found her, and I can't wait to see how our story pans out.
