A Celebration of Love and Good Friends

A long time ago, in a city that is warm and bright, I met a girl named Mallory. Then, right then, a friendship was born. Mallory and I bonded over a 6-mile run, in the toasty month of August, to Sunrise Mountain and back. That day we talked about pretty much everything, really anything that could keep our feet moving and help us back to water and air-conditioning.

We must have been the strangest runners of all time. From the costumes we would wear (like wings and swords and who knows what else), to our arguments over if the poop we saw on the trail came from a horse or a dog. From the most sincere glee at getting five whole dollars on our long cross country trips and then spending that entire five dollars on candy (and really scaring everyone else on the bus with the added sugar in our veins).

I can pinpoint some of my very best high school memories to Mallory. She was a gem of a friend. One of those friends that you can just count on, you know?

So when Mallory announced her engagement, it was a no-brainer that we were going to celebrate her marriage with her. And a celebration it was! She looked absolutely beautiful. I think most of it was due to the utter joy she was emulating. She was just so happy.

What topped it off was that I got to spend it with Jacquelynn, another great friend from high school. We took my camera and left our significant others and became those obnoxious people who act like they're photographers at wedding but really aren't. And what kills me, really kills me, is that I didn't even get a pictures with Mallory, actually not even one of her. Sometimes I just fail at things. But here are the fruits of our labors. It was so beautiful and so like Mallory that we pretty much oohhed and awwed over everything.

And the way the light filtered through the trees and made everything glow just topped it off. It was so nice to celebrate Mallory's big day with her. We are so thrilled that she found the man of her dreams that she will spend forever with. It makes me ever so grateful that I found my forever too. Here's to true love and being together forever.