Though a great many of you now know I went to Ohio last weekend, not as many of you really understand why. Why would Steve take his girlfriend, who had already purchased a plane ticket to Ohio, by car to the middle of nowhere in Ohio? The answer has a very large quantity of layers. Layers? What the hell do you mean by layers? Is your relationship a complicated cake? Not at all, fictitious person who asks really odd questions. Actually, I am just really complicated and simple simultaneously and for some reason, people don’t take a moment to realize that the complicated parts are very easily understood.

Let’s start with the simplest reason. Teri was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Logan, Ohio. I took Teri to pick up her dress from the tailor. As she opened the curtain and stepped out, I had already decided that I had a very overwhelming desire to watch her take part in this occasion.

Before I continue, I feel I need to elaborate on something. I am not traditionally a fan of going to people’s weddings. I think that there are traditionally two problems with weddings. The first is that they are usually over planned to the point that someone is nervous that something is going to go wrong. The other problem I have is that the little stuff which should be planned for never seems to be and is the thing which is potentially the most disastrous to the person who has over planned. A smaller problem I tend to just pass on is that most men have never once thought about their wedding and usually don’t want to have any part in the wedding itself except for the saying of the words “I Do” and getting the hell out of the building so they can get that “post wedding sex” they have heard so much about. I do, however, love the emotional responses people have to a wedding. I myself, actually find it touching the way that people respond to the people being married. It is one of the few times that emotions are very sincere.

Seeing Teri try to stand calm and composed with a look of happiness and pride was something that, to me, would be a potential asset to be stored away in my memory vaults. Little did I know it would be so much more than I could have imagined. Watching her stand there in that beautiful dress was one of the few things I can say is honestly more captivating than watching the rain pour down on a stormy night. My vantage point was a little less than amazing, but being able to have any vantage point is more than I felt, at that moment, I ever truly deserved.

The more complicated reason, however, is what happened afterward. When we left there Saturday, we headed for her friend Stephanie’s house. The car ride was one of those unexpected treasures you get in life. The drive to her house was worth more money than I will ever be able to obtain, and to call it priceless is to devalue its level of awesomeness. This is not the reason I meant though, part of what I had wanted was to give her a chance to see her friends again. As I have told many people, many times it is important to remember who you are and how you got there. Seeing and appreciating the people who helped you make it through every day and cared about you when you felt alone is something that so many people take for granted. Being able to give Teri the ability to spend even just a few minutes being reminded of the fact that no matter how far you go your friends will always care about you made the trip worth every minute.

Right now, I know my friends are probably feeling like, especially after what I just said, I am trying to move my life in a direction where they are not a part of it. The truth is, I am just taking a little time to indulge myself in something very special. There isn’t very much like Teri that comes along in life, and for a little while I experienced a very strong fear of loss. However, just like my friends, Teri wants to be a part of my life and I find myself proud to have her there, just as I have all of the rest of my friends.

This trip to Ohio was about a lot of things, but most importantly it is about remembering that there are some things far more important than just getting the things done which have to be done. Just because I will always love Teri, doesn’t mean I won’t also always love my friends.