Wedding bells will be ringing

My trip this past weekend has me very much excited about this coming weekend. Alan's Wedding. Let's get the selfish stuff out of the way. I'm excited to see the guys again. This growing up and moving away stuff is different. I'm not used to not being around my friends. I'm adjusting. I'm fine. It's just different. So I'm very excited to see everyone again. I know it's going to be a blast.

Also my mother and aunt are coming down for the wedding. I know mom is excited about that. Alan is like another son to her, as are many of my friends. After the wedding, mom and Aunt Pat will come up to Alexandria to get their first look at the new house. Oh, it's still a mess. Call it a work in progress. But I'm excited for my mom to see my house. I'm awfully proud, and I know she will be too.

And then the wedding. First it was me. Then Kyle. Now Alan. Binni's next? Lord, I hope so. Alan Walker is getting married. The pimp is settling down. Honestly, of all the guys, I figured Alan would have the least problems getting married. Never seemed to have a problem finding a girl. The problem was finding the perfect girl. Well, he could have done much worse than Misty Harrington.

I'm very proud of Alan, who of all my friends is the most like a brother to me. When I first moved to Ruston in 7th grade, for one reason or another, I just took to Alan. I looked up to him, always setting my sights to better Alan. It wasn't competition. I didn't want to actually be better than him. I just knew Alan was going to do everything well. If I could do better than him, then I was doing something right.

It's funny how my friendships work. Alan was like my brother, even though we both have older brothers. Kyle was my confidante. We could talk about anything and everything. Our relationship was, and still is, very mental. Binni, he was my boy. We just clicked on a sports level. Although he's misguided in some areas (ha!), we saw eye-to-eye in just about everything when it came to sports. He was the guy who would listen to all my off-the-wall comments about sports. He also was the guy who I felt knew as much as I do -- and there aren't many of those people around.

But Alan was just different. He was my friend when I didn't have friends. Kyle and I really became close towards the end of my junior year in high school. Binni and I clicked in college. But Alan was always there. He didn't have to be there every hour or every day. But he was there when I needed him to be, and I hope he can say the same thing about me. Our relationship wasn't one where we had to communicate daily, but it was one where I knew if I needed to talk or wanted to do something or just hang out, I could count on Alan Walker.

Now the kid is all grown up -- a successful engineer in Houston and soon-to-be a successful husband, and maybe one day an even more successful father. A-Dawg, thank you for your friendship. You've meant so much to me over the years, more than you'll ever know or I'll ever be able to put into words. Congrats, buddy. I'm always thinking about you and praying for you. I wish you and Misty nothing but the best.