Last Saturday was Andy's first best man debut. He's been in many a wedding--either singing, groomsmen, or both. Seriously...I can count 9 off the top of my head right now, and I think I'm forgetting some. We'll just say he's gotten his fair share of Gerber knives and engraved lighters. But this was his first best man gig.
Since he had to be in the middle of nowhere early on Friday, I took off the day, and went to his parents' house. While he gallavanted about Covington, IN, I spent the day with his mom and tried to convince Oliver and Keegan to get along. I even sang to them, "Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends" Nothing like a little War to get the dogs to love each other (also--anyone else find it ironic that the band War sings "Why can't we be friends"?).
On the day of the wedding I rode over with Tim and Amy. Tim was Andy's last roommate in college, and one of my favorites (that's not saying much--I loved all four of them. Still do). Amy is five months pregnant, so we got to talk all about their little girl and the adventures they've had shopping for baby clothes and maternity clothes. Apparently Tim stripped a mannequin at the GAP last week because it was wearing the only shirt in the correct size. I can so see the whole thing playing out in my mind--Tim and Andy and I engaged in some serious hijinks their senior year of college.
When we finally arrived at the world's smallest church (really, I didn't realize it was a church), we were over an hour early. It was okay, though. Our other BFF's arrived just minutes after us, and we preceded to have all sorts of fun in the parking lot before we went inside. I went to college with all of the men (they are from Andy's Bible study at Purdue), but most of the wives went to other schools. They have become my friends since college, but I feel like I've known them forever. I never went to school with Amy, Betsy, or Desiree, but they are some of my favorite people...I have no idea how we bonded so quickly, but I love it. Andy came out to chat with us a minute, and his tux made me feel like I was going to have a seizure. It looked really nice inside, but outside in the sunlight it was not right. The green was too bright, and there was too much going on--it was weird. I couldn't believe the difference between being inside and being out in the light. I never noticed it again all night.
During the wedding, I got to sit with my wedding date, Steve. He is also one of my favorites of Andy's roommates. For nearly every wedding Andy has been in (at least the ones he wasn't also in), Steve has been the one I sit with. It's awesome. We are both total nuts and have a good time together. At this particular wedding, we were in rare form. The pastor started the ceremony by saying, "We are not here for a marriage today. A marriage already exists." Which I totally misinterpreted and thought he meant that they were already together together. And I knew that wasn't the case. Steve said he couldn't officiate his wedding. Then later, the pastor talked about rebar and other stuff, and Tim said he got all of his building analogies wrong. Then he told them to invite other people into their marriage. And what Steve said there shall never be repeated. Just know that I had to bite my hand to keep from laughing.
After the wedding, I had left my sweater inside and sneaked back in to get it. On my way out, a man thought I was his wife and put his hand on my back and started rubbing. I looked up at him and RAN AWAY AS FAST AS I COULD. Oh, the awkward.
We had nearly two hours to kill before the reception, so we chose to find ourselves some ice cream. Because every piddling town in America has at least one ice cream shop. I remembered seeing a frozen custard place right as we turned off the highway. So we caravaned there. But it was closed. Tim found us "Lindy's Frozen Mug" on the GPS, and we started off there. Then we got a call that someone's car wouldn't start. So Tim and Blake went to the church to fix the car, and Amy and I headed on for ice cream with John (another favorite former roommate--Andy's, not mine, although I did spend A LOT of time there that year) and his wife Desiree and Steve. (I'm aware that my cast of characters keeps growing--I just can't whittle it down). The road to the Frozen Mug was closed, but right as we approached the closed road, there was a place called the Sundae Shoppe next to the barrier. SCORE! We got some of the best and cheapest ice cream I've ever had in my life. And we got to eat out on the patio in this cute little alley that totally looked like Stars Hollow.
Once we finally made it to the reception, things were darned near perfect. We enjoyed our dinner, a little dancing (a lot for Andy--not so much me--I mostly exercised my mouth), and some great conversations that were all over the place. The reception was a lot of fun. It all felt so casual and relaxed. Andy gave a best man speech in which he referenced the bathroom no less than three times. It was stinking funny, if not just a little base. But that's how we roll. Or he does. I don't really talk about the bathroom that much. And really, it was awesome. His speech and the night.
I got a little sad at the end of the night when I realized we were running out of boys to marry off. I don't know what we'll do to get everyone together after that. I love those relationships, and I want them to remain strong.
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