Dave and Carrie.

I may have mentioned, somewhat offhandedly, that two of my very close friends, Dave Humphreys and Carrie Kirk, recently announced their engagement to our little group of friends. This is, of course, spectacular news, and I've been trying, quite unsuccessfully, to find something poignant and beautiful to say about it here. I think, perhaps, in the same sense Carrie told me that her first response to Dave's proposal was "Are you serious?" I too am struggling with the reality of it all.

This is expected. I've known Dave for quite some time, and not to be guilty of...shall we say, dividing my friends up into different sorts of categories, I find that those closest to me are the ones who have marriage as one of the farthest things from their mind. But I am seriously reconsidering that assumption, as I've known Dave possibly the longest of any of my dearer friends [since middle school, actually] and he now not only has the distinction of being my oldest friend, but also, for taking this next great step into adulthood, my bravest as well. And I can think of no more admirable thing to be brave about than this, because for as long as I've known Dave, I've never seen him be quite so complete, so centered, so comfortable, as he is when he is with Carrie. I think it speaks to how well they go together that nothing seems odder to me these days than to encounter one without the other, and the thought of them making this commitment to each other is like finding some rare instance of balance in this universe.

I'd go so far as to say they go together like...well, Dave and Carrie and flat soda. Which, they'll get, if they remember the trip to Chicago, and my first prolonged experience with them both in tandem.

Good times.

I wander. This past New Years, my two friends' ability to surprise me came again, in full force, when, as Justin and I were leaving the party, Dave asked us to be groomsmen. Justin, who thinks far better on his feet than I, offered an immediate yes, while I, totally caught off guard, obeyed the screaming impulse in my head to "Stall them!" and tried to collect myself. Thankfully, it didn't take long, and despite my stumbling, I gladly and honorably accept what can only be described as one of the more flattering moments in my life.

I could go on, but there is so little artfulness in me to properly describe feelings I'm having for Dave and Carrie, and in the spirit of whoever said it first, likely said it better, I end with a reflection on love, true love, and hope it makes it back to them graciously.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. "
-- William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116.