You suddenly complete me

If you know me well, you'll know that friends come first to me.

My best friends Taylor and Clayton Boeyink were married this past weekend and I had the opportunity to stand up on Taylor's side of the wedding party. I was a bridesman/guy/dawg.



I wish there were words that I could use to explain the elegance and beauty that came from this wedding. So many emotions were visible and felt during the entire weekend and it was unreal.

I will say this:
Love is hard to come by. So many times in our lives we find love only makes us become skeptical of peace and hope. We see love broken down into horrible forms of emotion through divorce, hatred, disappointment, lies, or unfaithfulness. We're spoon-fed silly children stories, Hollywood movies, and beautiful music that portray a love that never seems to scratch at our personal surface. We as humans are selfish and pessimistic. Love becomes a struggle. We hope, only to end up struggling. Something so beautiful should never make us hurt.

I'm the first to admit that I fall victim to that description more times than less.

This past weekend has shown me that I had it all wrong. We try so hard to find a big mural or painting of love and we try so hard to live up to the stories, movies, and songs that fuel our imagination of love. In that journey we fail the see the little things that truly define the emotion that we seek.

While we were taking pictures with Suzzane Corum, I looked around and saw how beautiful the world looked. The fall scenery, smell, and overcast brought goosebumps to the moment. The imagine of a color shifting fall tree struck a chord of peace through my body. Our wedding party was standing on a bridge and I saw my best friends laughing, hugging, high fiving, making jokes, and smiling. I saw a young bride and her groom completely happy. I saw friends I haven't seen in months and I made new friends with people I met only an hour before.

In that moment of time, amidst the laughs, smiles, hugs, dancing, pictures, smell of fall, high fives, piggy back rides, sharing of water bottles and bags of chips, I saw love flowing through our lives.

The little paintings can pile up to make a huge mural of love. Little things like laughing with your friends, hugging your neighbor of 10 years, hugging a new friend of 10 hours, going to Mc Donalds wearing suits with two loving friends, sharing a beer with a friend whose life has moved east, dancing too hard to sandstorm, teaching a white girl how to stanky leg, meeting a grandparent who is still gaga for her husband of over fifty years, laughing with a pastor of a church, talking basketball with a bunch of dudes while taking a poop, reminiscing over 'high school days' and the WCW, chill bachelor and bachelorette parties, seeing pretty girls, trying too hard for pretty girls, hugging your best friends, seeing a 19 year old girl completely lost in love with a 21 year old boy, and everything in between can paint that mural.

Love is easy to take for granted or even ignore. If you drop your expectations and allow yourself to be vulnerable sometimes you find love in the craziest of situations. As many times as love will fail us, it will find a way to put it's magic back in our bones.

Taylor and Clayton... you two are the best people I've ever met. I'm so proud of your young love and passion. You will change the world with your ambition and grace. Never give up on each other and strive to better your marriage everyday. Stay strong. Congratulations and thanks for one of the best weekends ever!



Best crew ever. No drama and way too much fun.


love,
andrew