We have to keep meeting like this

I had a wedding this weekend. Friday evening, I walked into the venue to prepare for the rehearsal. I was flitting arouind doing my wedding coordinator thing, clipboard in hand, when I rounded the corner and came upon a group of groomsmen. Nothing unusual there--groomsmen tend to be at wedding rehearsals. However, I almost fell on my face, because one of the groomsmen was Aaron Weidner.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

Who is Aaron Weidner?

Well, that's what everyone is thinking unless you went to high school with me. If that's the case, then you know that Aaron and I, along with another hooligan named Steve, were an inseparable pack back then. We lived within walking distance of each other, and spent a majority of our after school time in my basement. We played pool, schemed ways to pull practical jokes on anyone in our path, and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail so many times that I still have a majority of the movie memorized today. ("Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!") In short, we were super cool people.

I still see Steve on occasion, but Aaron and I lost touch after he moved to Kansas City to go to art school. The last time I saw him was maybe 8 years ago, when I went to a club (which I NEVER do) because some old college friends were meeting up there, and guess who was the lead singer of the band? We freaked out then, and we freaked out Friday night.

At the wedding, I got some time to visit with Aaron. He's doing great, and despite the fact that we grew up and became responsible citizens, we got along just as brilliantly as ever. The icing on the cake was that I got to meet Aaron's amazing wife Bev. Steve and I used to give Aaron a really hard time in high school becuase he always seemed to like girls that were, well, idiots. His taste has definitely improved with time--on top of being ridiculously pretty, Bev is one of the most genuine people I have met in a long time. I had a WONDERFUL time talking with them, and I really hope that we will make good on our promise to get together next time we're all in the same town. In the meantime, I'll have to settle for hearing them--Aaron and Bev have realeased some music together under the name The New Tragedies. Look them up on iTunes!

I managed to get a picture of the three of us at the wedding, and I dug through my old stuff from high school to find some vintage photos as well.

Here's Steve, me and Aaron. Yes, I know my hair was ridiculous. So was yours back then. Leave me alone.

I put this next picture in because 1) Steve and Aaron spent countless hours sitting in this exact space, hogging my stereo, and 2) there are some great representations of the times in the photo. Note the green and blue shag carpet and the Huey Lewis and the News mag.

Here we are all grown up. If my calculations are right, there is a span of about 15 years between the first two pictures and this one. I don't know how I ended up between Aaron and Bev, but it's still a great picture.

It was a great bonus to a nice weekend, and it gave me a really fun bout of nostalgia. Now I'm off to Hastings to rent The Holy Grail.