The Groomsmen
How do you boil down many, many years into a few close people to be your groomsmen?
According to Wikipedia, here is a definition of Trifecta: "Trifecta - as a slang term to describe any successful phenomenon that comes in threes..."
The Early Years...Mattress
John and I were best friends basically from day one of freshman year in High School. As I recall he was in Mr. Bernard's office the first day and I was suspended within the first week. Things didn't change much over the years...I joined the Air Force in '91 and eventually went to Pitt in '96. John came down and hung out almost every weekend until he eventually moved down and we lived together from Summer '98 until Early '01. During the summer of '98 I was in Panama and John befriended a local lunatic named "Max"... I still remember moving out of that little efficiency apartment in the dark of night! We moved into what became simply known to the crew as "102", a lovely, roach infested rowhouse and yet during those years in college were some of the funnest times of my life! In the fall of 2001 "Mattress" got married and I was asked to be his best man...John you are the best man who could be my best man! Note...He eventually grew into his ears (see below) and I lost the braces (and my hair)!
The College Years...Philly
This following photo is special to me because it's the day I graduated, standing with my good buddy Dave next to...you guessed it...Heinz Chapel where the wedding is going to be held some eight years later, talk about coming full circle! I met Dave during the Summer of '96 when he was a mere 17 year old lad. I was 23 at the time and as you can imagine I was his "best friend". From '96 until early '02 when I eventually moved to Utah, we had some of greatest parties and greatest times. Since Dave recently relocated to San Antonio, hopefully we will be able to hook up on occassion and we have already once for New Years and Dirty D and I flooded his apartment..."good times". But nonetheless, sometimes, early in the morning back in the Pitt days "Philly" and I would sit on the park benches in front of the Cathedral of Learning and just reminisce about "good times"...
The Military...G$
For over 16 years the Military has been at the center of my life and it even stopped me from getting married a few times! Here's a pic of my good buddy Garth. He represents all the cool dudes I've gotten to know over the years and literally around the world. We met in Louisiana and solved the world's problems on my "V" (short for Veranda)... fate would have it that I would buy a house .5 miles from him and he was my counterpart down with the Bombers and I was with the Warthogs. Fate would again intervene when the SOB got my dream job and moved up to the 'burgh...Note the timestamp -- that's the day "G$" moved. He stopped by to say "goodbye" and weasel one last Heinie out of me.
