Love is a battlefield. Which is how our friend signed my friend’s Steph and Neal’s wedding guest book. From now on, I will be carrying an assortment of 80’s and 90’s songs to pull from when signing wedding guest books. I went with “Congratulations and I love both of you.” Pro tip: Don’t say good luck. Brides think that implies you don’t think they’ll make it.
Despite all lack of originality in my signature, I do love the both of them. Our first weekend of college, Steph came and knocked on our door and asked, “Do you want to go to a party?” Ummm…yes. Please. Steph and Neal, who didn’t actually start dating for several more years, took us to our first official party off campus. From then on, their crew – Katie, Andi, Carmen, Alli, Joe, Ryan, Andy, Neville – were the sophomores, and we were the freshman. They became the juniors, we became the sophomores. They became the seniors, we became the juniors. And so we stand, six years post-grad, they remain to us as the seniors.
The seniors took us to many more parties, they bought beer for our St. Patrick’s Day party, they gave us their old furniture, they hosted tailgates, told us what classes to avoid and drove us to Target. They even threw my 21st birthday party (and Beth’s) complete with cake, beer, balloons and hair holding. They were the older siblings we always wanted. With beer.
So a cheers to Neal and Steph. May their lives continue to be full of the love and warmth they brought into our lives.