dean + robin

(below is the toast I was asked to give at Dean and Robin's wedding on November 1, 2014... I'm still almost crying)

I can't promise how far into this I'm gonna get before I lose it, but I'm pretty sure that's half the reason you asked me to do this in the first place so I hope one of you had money riding on it because otherwise this is a total waste. 

Anyway... When I first found myself falling in with this group of goofballs from Indiana, these hell-bent angels with luck on their side, I was given brief descriptions of everyone I'd soon meet. And among those things was the first thing I heard about Dean.

 I was told that he was the ugliest sonofabitch I'd ever meet.

And let's be honest... That wasn't too far off. 

But that sparkling introduction aside, what I didn't know was that I was actually hearing the first description of a guy who'd end up being one of my best friends in this world. 

Dean and I kept in touch and along with some gross abuse of the us postal service, we would text pretty often about important things like what we wanted on our tombstones (for the record, even in death, Dean will meet you at didiers).

But one night he started texting me about this girl he'd met. There were expletives and exclamation points and lots of capitalization. And then I remember when the text came through...

"We've got the same Lawrence Arms tattoo."

And I just remember thinking, "Oh dude, that's your girl."

And then another text came... "SHE'S A WHISKEY GIRL!" 

And I thought, "Oh damn, that's my girl."

And once again, what I didn't realize was that I was hearing the first description of another one of my best friends. 

You don't get a lot of chances in life to see a love story from the very beginning, but with Dean and Robin I've had the honor of seeing it unfold from the start, even from 2000 miles away. 

You guys, this day and the people here are a testament to you both, and what you friendships mean to all of us. I can only speak for myself, but I know it echoes from everyone here:

If we know one thing about you, it's that you're there for us. For so many of us here you have stood alongside in the greatest joys and been the ones to climb down into the pits with us for the most crushing lows. And you haven't dared leave us until we all climbed out together. 

And getting to be here with you on your wedding day now? 

This is the honor of a lifetime. 

So here's to Dean and Robin. 

For everyone else who's doing it wrong, you guys are doing it exactly right.