Statistical Improbabilities

So last night I ended up reading through some old internet journals, and wound up reading the Weirdo's online journal from when we first started dating. There were some people that were openly (maybe even forcefully?) against the idea of us talking about marriage so quickly. She was 19 and I was 21, we had been dating for 2 months when we started openly talking about how we were getting married.

Talked to the Weirdo about it this morning too. We had a couple laughs, a couple sarcastic eye rolls thinking about back in the day.

I can't shake the feeling of being a little miffed by the doubters - even 6 1/2 years later.

I get it. To the normal, rational, logical person we were crazy. Nuts. Who talks about getting married after knowing a person for 2 months? And one is still a teenager for God's sake! I get it. Looking back, I have no doubt that every single person in our lives had their doubts - even if silently.

But then again, maybe that's the whole point. The people that loved us, that, despite their doubts, wanted the very unlikely to actually become a happy story, never really voiced their doubts. They were concerned, but they kept it to themselves because they saw how happy the Weirdo and I were together. They hoped that it really would work out for us, regardless of the statistical improbabilities.

Here's the problem with openly voicing your serious concerns about a newly budding relationship: you're setting yourself up one way or the other. If the relationship lasts, you're the guy who challenged that it would. If it doesn't, you're the asshole with the "I told you so" condescension. Furthermore, when you openly speak out against someone's new love for whatever reason you're not just being a concerned friend (most especially if you're not even a close friend to begin with). You're questioning the judgement and on some level even the intelligence of two people - two people who are busy falling in love.

So I'll end with this: people are going to fall in love. It's almost guaranteed that most of us have or will, at some point, fall in love with the wrong person. That's part of being a human being. I think the best thing you can do for a lovestruck friend is to hope for the best, wish them well, and be ready to catch them if they fall.

And after 6 1/2 years I still love my Weirdo <-->, just like I said I would.