"You can bet your bottom dollar on me" -Indie Rock n' Roll

Last week, my ever lovin' Bethany and Mr. Jimmy G got married. I've been waiting about seven years for this day. In May of 2005, I insisted that Beth begin spending more face time with the boy who drew her ships and circles and thought he could love her. I pulled up my car in front of a maze of towering rose bushes and boldly knocked on his door that fateful day. That's where it all started—at least my part of it. And I always knew this was how it would end. And by end, I mean begin.

Around senior year of high school, we began betting sodas. Not being real gamblers, we never staked more than an IBC on our opinions. I developed this idea though that Beth owed me a soda for saving her love life.

"If they don't get married, I'm giving up on love," I said. That become a sort of mantra to my dark dating life over the following years. I was certain that if things couldn't work out for Beth and Jimmy G, then they didn't work at all.

As we all entered our twenties, I realized my oath was a bit ridiculous. At times, I braced myself for the eventuality that things might not work out. I think I reached a point where I was willing to love for myself independently of what happened to two of my best friends.

Still, when I got the text from Beth saying they were engaged, I cried this mix of joy and relief and bliss that I didn't expect to well up from my soul. I asked for more story and laughed at her texted response, "Keep calm. I will call when I can."

Now that this deal is sealed, I've been thinking about why it was I felt fine staking my faith in love on two kids who started falling in love at fifteen.

Here are some reasons: 1) They talk. I believe they know how to communicate and to work through problems and difficulties. 2) They appreciate the strangest things about each other. 3) Something about the two of them together just feels so beautiful to me. They fit and balance and make all kinds of sense to me.

I can't think of any more reasons. The simplicity of that baffles me into a sort of reverence and awe at what love does.

I made sure to pay the debt Jimmy G said I owed him. "You owe me a soda—for saving your faith in love."

So, I sent them off with some soda. In an act of faith in the future, I also made sure that I caught her bouquet.