Today You Move
Over the weekend Amanda and I flew to North Carolina to attend the marriage of my friend Wes to his fiancée, now wife, Theresa.
Even before the wedding, we knew it was going to be a pretty great weekend because our rental car was a silver Mustang, and upon arrival in Raleigh we went straight from the airport to Waffle House.
The wedding was the next day, and I didn’t know many people there beyond Wes’ family, and my other friends Mark and Phil. The four of us have been in the same room only a handful of times since our band ended eight years ago. So reconvening with them is a rare, often emotionally charged prospect, at least for me.
The ceremony was brief, beautiful, and sylvan, and Mark and Phil performed a song they were confident only the four of us would recognize.
The song was “Today You Move,” by Trip Shakespeare, a song and a band Wes helped us all discover seventeen years ago. When it came to music, we took all our cues from him, and were never misled.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings over the last few years, but this one was significant because it was the wedding of my oldest, most consistently dear friend.
While that friendship is now about 25 years old, it wasn’t always close, geographically or otherwise, and it didn’t always come easily. It is probably an axiom of human relationships that your longest, most intense friendship will almost by necessity be not only the most complex, but the most complicated.
But not fragile. While we drifted off each others’ radars a few times, a corollary to the above axiom is that after a certain point it ultimately requires less effort to let the distances between us close rather than to keep drifting.
So, here’s to Theresa and Wes. May you care for him, Theresa, as well as I’ve often wished I could.
More here.
Update: Somehow I forgot to mention that there was karaoke at the wedding (as you can probably tell from the Flickr set) and that Amanda and I performed “Kiss From A Rose.” Don’t know how the hell that eluded my original account, since it was obviously the highlight of the wedding.
Posted: April 20th, 2009 under General, Grinnell, Images, Iowa City, Music.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Dan
Time: 20 April 2009, 09:41
What a great story, Jake. Thanks for sharing.
Comment from Chad
Time: 20 April 2009, 14:57
I can’t even tell you how awesome that picture of the Sauce is. Also, I used to check out Trip Shakespeare at Gabe’s back in the day. Once, I saw them when they had a horn section with them. Great pop band.
Comment from stefanie
Time: 21 April 2009, 11:49
This is a great toast, Jake. Cheers.
Comment from wes
Time: 22 April 2009, 08:54
You have a facility with words that I’ve always admired and tried to emulate. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read something you’ve written and thought “That is the PERFECT way to put it”. Often, reading your take on events clarifies things for me and helps me understand what seems incomprehensible at the time. Whether with a tape recorder, computer journal, camera, or pen, you have tirelessly, accurately, and ingeniously chronicled our lives, allowing us to learn from and laugh at ourselves. I wouldn’t remember three fourths of what I remember if it wasn’t for you. I also wouldn’t be recognizably me without your friendship.
When we had our most major falling out in 2002ish, I was devastated. I thought perhaps I’d lost you for good. I was deeply unhappy at the time for a number of reasons, but the collapse of our friendship was probably the single most painful experience I’ve ever had.
Little did we know then that this friendship is stronger than both of us. It’s stronger than our wills. It’s stronger than our egos. It’s stronger than our memories. It’s Love buddy, and it keeps on.
Thank You John Paul.
Comment from wes
Time: 22 April 2009, 09:12
Also- You and Amanda THREW DOWN on the Seal song. I’m kicking myself for not asking you to perform it in the ceremony.
Comment from Jake
Time: 22 April 2009, 10:57
Thank you, Wes. It means the world to me to hear you say that.
More importantly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as happy as you were on Saturday. I’ve been waiting a long time to see you that happy. You deserve it.
Comment from Jenny
Time: 5 May 2009, 18:48
Aww. Congrats, Wes. And that’s a good-lookin’ picture of the four of you. :)
Write a comment