Brian and Bride

-- Friends get married; happiness is seen



Last Friday's sky was perfect, so much so that Nathan and I went for a coordinated run for the first time in our history. Valentines day, video games, viral cinema; these things we had done together, but running never had been considered. Why had we never pounded the Logan sidewalks stride-by-side when at school?

Upon returning from the track -- successfully dodging the student drivers out on the adjacent course --  we learned we weren't the only ones running that day. Our friend to the north, Bryan Farnsworth, had taken to the hills as well; the fact being noteworthy only because he would end up getting married some three to four hours later. Contrast that with my pre-wedding routine: three hours before I got married I ate a sausage link, the likes of which almost came back up on account of nerves when my wife to be was 10 minutes late to the temple. (In a fortuitous turn of events my stomach was calmed by the sight of my favorite professor, one Jeffrey Doyle, in an incident that marks the one time in my life that the thought of accounting has stopped me from barfing instead of encouraging it.)

I don't know Bryan as well as some. Compared to the Brothers Duncan or the Nathans and Landons of the world, my history with Bryan is only above average. It's a caveat worth keeping in mind considering the declaration I'm going to make a few paragraphs down. Making up for my lack of years with Bryan is one single advantage:  I've attended a dozen or so BYU football games with Mr. F-worth over the course of the last few seasons. What this means is that I've seen Bryan on more than one occasion in instances of extreme happiness: BYU beating UCLA 59-0 in 2008, BYU beating Utah in overtime in 2009, BYU beating Texas earlier this year.

The victory over Utah in 2009 was probably the best of the bunch, being that it was Utah, being that it was overtime, and being that we charged the field in the aftermath and nearly highfived Bronco Mendenhall in the process. I remember that the stadium doesn't look quite as big on the field as it does from the stands. It was a great way to send off the seniors: Max, Pitta, Jorgenson, Bryan himself.

I was as happy as I ever had been, and I feel safe in assuming that Bryan felt more or less the same. And yet that level of happiness was lame compared to what I saw out of him during last week's wedding. Take it for what it's worth considering how well you think I do or don't know him, but the Bryan I saw on Friday was 10 times happier than the Bryan I saw that day in 2009, and really, it was the happiest Bryan I have ever seen.

I guess that fact made me happy too, at least happy enough to want to write for the first time since the city of Logan named my wife cousin to Bin Laden.

So to the couple I say congratulations.
To Lauren I say thanks for making my friend's life.
And to Bryan I say hurry home soon: we need you against Boise State.