Almost six years ago, short only by a month, a boy met a girl.

The boy was scruffy.  Bachelorized.  Severely lacking in the skills of courtship that, if harnessed and properly utilized, could so effortlessly turn “like” into “love.”

He was one of my best friends.

The girl was striking.  Confident.  Recently heartbroken over someone whose name never deserved the ink in her journal, yet strong-willed enough to know that Life has a way of working things out.

She was my cousin.

She still is, I know, so I’m not sure why I’m writing in the past-tense, except maybe because now she — and they — are so much more.

It was at my wedding.  June 2nd, 2006.  My cousin called him the “Red Tie Guy.”

Love at first sight?

Because, you know, that’s what he was wearing.

I like making matches.

I’m not going to lie.

But when he showed up at my bachelorette party just a few days prior (because he’s that good of a friend), Scott asked if there would be any single girls he hadn’t yet met at the wedding.

Because who wouldn’t want to date a guy who goes to bachelorette parties?

And I may have said, “Well… there’s my cousin…”

His blue eyes looked hopeful.

“But she’s too good for you.”

Kicked puppy.

Ugh.

I winked.  He laughed.  But really, it turns out, I was just tempting fate.

Yep, not just one, but TWO guys celebrating the sistahood.  The one on the right has no idea his bachelor days are numbered.

At my wedding they met.  After that they kissed.  Then they dated.

They carried out a long-distance relationship for a seemingly unreasonable amount of time, but they were in love.

Self-portrait by Leah B Photography.

These things happen.

Now, so many years later — so many experiences later — my perpetual bachelor friend has passed me by.

He looks different.

The whole world looks different.

Photo by Leah B Photography.

Now he has a new bachelorette to worry about.

And the thing is, I always knew Leah would make a wonderful mother.

But it turns out, Scottie B., that I’m pretty sure you will not be anything less than an exceptional father.

So listen closely, because I’m only going to say this once:

 

I was wrong.

 

You’re not not good enough for my cousin.

You — the two of you — and now the three — are completely,

exactly,

right.

(Unrelated side note:  I re-vamped the site and there will soon be some changes.  The most unfortunate side effect is that you have probably lost your email subscription if you had one.  If so, please go to the top right corner of the page, just below the header and menu where it says “Subscribe to Blog Via Email.”  THAT’S where you go to re-subscribe.  And I’m not saying it will hurt my feelings if you don’t, but it might turn me into an emotional puddle of helplessness.  So.  If you don’t put your email in that box and hit “subscribe,” all that’s on you. Okay, so apparently I wasn’t very diligent in my research earlier, and I have now been able to transfer all of my email subscribers to my new site. So you’re off the hook. You’re welcome. Unfortunately, it’s still looking like any of my followers from WordPress.com (you know who you are) will have to use the email subscribe option in the top right corner of this page if you want to keep getting updates. And, you know… I’ll miss you if you don’t.)