When I arrived at her wedding, her mom greeted me.

“Oh, are you THE Conc?” she said. I was a bit shocked. “I don’t think so” I replied. Her mom said “Yes, you’re her friend from college. She talks about you all the time! She would LOVE to see you before the ceremony.” So her mom takes my hand and leads me to the bridal room. Cool.

As soon as I entered the back room, my heart completely stopped. Standing in front of me wasn’t the frumpy girl I remembered. Instead, it was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Long gone were the silly haircut and bib overalls — replaced by an elegant, sexy, and stunning woman. Standing there in her bridal gown, she took my breath away.

And in that split second, time stopped. Every moment of our lives shot through my head. All the smiles, the laughs, the late night walks around campus. All the pieces of our relationship suddenly lined up made perfect sense. And in the ultimate clarity of that moment, I had the most awful realization of my entire life.

THIS was the woman I was supposed to marry. I was absolutely certain. There was not a doubt in my mind.

Smile.

Given a divorce rate in America hovering at around 50%, I think I will always call my fiance my “girl” rather than my “wife”.

When an 19-year-old says:

I went to the coffee shop with my girl today; it was fun.

…it implies that there were many girls he could have gone to the coffee shop with, but that this is the one he is totally into, so he went with her.

But if a 43-year-old says:

I went to the coffee shop with my wife today: it was fun.

…this is most likely to mean they were just both there at the same time. Perhaps I’m jaded from seeing so many shallow and unhappy relationships.

/shrugs

Anyway, when I refer to my woman I want it to always be with the context of active choice to be with her, and not some responsibility like kids or the unpleasantness of divorce that prevents me from being with someone else.

I love my girl.

Cheezburger Mother’s Day

I love his romantic ones.

No words.

What would vigorous youth be without love? A long illness—it would not be existence; it would be vegetating. Love is to our hearts what winds are to the sea. They grow into tempests, true; they are sometimes even the cause of shipwrecks. But the winds render the sea navigable, their constant agitation of its surface is the cause of its preservation, and if they are often dangerous, it is for the pilot to know how to navigate in safety.

According to de l’Enclos, if a life in the best of vigorous health is without love, it is no life at all, only a long illness. Even health is illness without love; conversely, there is no illness that love cannot cure or make tolerable. At the same time, love is trouble. Like wind, it troubles the surface of the sea, but it also makes navigation possible. The agitation of love preserves the self, keeps it healthy even when—especially when—it is sick. The risk of love, which so often ends in shipwreck, is what keeps a person healthy.

This is my favorite video right now.