Mail Time – Special Edition

It was a big day for the Jones mailbox – a wedding invitation and a birth announcement. Neither of the items were a surprise; I’m the best man in the wedding and I regularly read the blog of the new father. But it’s still the kind of mail day that gets me thinking (especially when compared to the usual contents of my mailbox: nothing).

First off, this is the fifth time I’ve been privileged to be in a wedding party, and I’m always amused when I get the mailed invite to these weddings. I know it’s mostly a formality at that point, but should I RSVP? I think they already know I’m coming.

(Important note: in my case, this question is largely hypothetical, since I don’t think I’ve ever RSVPed. I realize this is rather problematic, but I just can’t help myself. I figure it’s okay if I’m not going, and if I am, I make sure they know some other way. Anyway, if you’re planning to invite me to your wedding, at the very least you may want to save yourself the extra enclosed stamp. Just a heads up.)

Of course, of far greater significance is that the groom in question just so happens to be my brother. That’s right: in a month and a half, my kid brother will be a married man. Again, this wasn’t exactly news, but there’s just something about holding it in your hands, in black and white, that really hammers it home.

As for the birth, recently old friend Aaron Guest became a proud papa to his first, a son Isaac. The lovely announcement reminded me just how weird it is every time a guy you grew up with suddenly qualifies as daddy.

So congratulations all around, maybe a little early, maybe a little late, but days like today I lose all sense of time.