The Love Story by Jeremy.

Mallory and I both graduated high school in 2006. She went to Shannon, and I went to Mooreville. Both, obviously, in Lee County. That proximity brought us together in three ways. The first was that both our graduation honors announcements were in the same section of the Daily Journal. She was valedictorian and STAR student at Shannon, and I was STAR student at Mooreville. She’s got a better story about the newspaper part than I do. 

Anyway. She saw me in the newspaper next to her, so she added me on facebook to offer her congratulations to me on STAR student. Once again, our proximity brought us together because it made it easier for her to determine which “Jeremy Haynes” I was on facebook. I remember her messaging me on facebook and I remember thinking it was just another random girl adding and messaging me on facebook, which was more common back then when I was in football shape than it is now that I’m sort of oval shaped! We messaged back and forth a time or two and I sorta blew her off.

I looked back on my facebook messages and I blew off several attractive and available girls that summer that tried to flirt with me on facebook. I’d learned a lesson or two about crazy facebook girls, so I wasn’t in a hurry to meet her.

The third way that our Lee County Schools education brought us together was that we both chose to go to Lee County Schools 13th and 14th grade at the same place, AKA Itawamba Community College. Most everyone in my senior class from Lee, Pontotoc, and Itawamba counties went to ICC. 

The Lord worked it out that she and I both had the same majors’ biology class together. So the first couple days of Dr. Lay’s class I remembered hearing the name “Whitehead” and thinking it sounded familiar (and a little odd). Somewhere in my mind tho, I remember being facebook friends with a Whitehead girl, but I couldn’t remember her name. Seemed like she had two names or I was getting her confused, and since that was pre-iPhone days, by the time I made it back to a computer to match the face with them name, I forgot about it. I eventually realized she did have two names, Mallory and Megan. That was why I was confused. I’d prolly looked at a different twin each time I saw the name Whitehead on facebook, and if Mallory hadn’t mentioned it earlier, I wouldn’t have ever remembered she messaged me on facebook over that summer.

"Chick-getting Shirt"

Keon, who seems to be connected to every significant life story I have past the 10th grade, knew Mallory and Megan from the spring 2006 tennis state championship in Jackson. He and his doubles partner were competing and the Shannon tennis team was there as well. Like he does with strangers, he made friends and had fun. So, lo and behold, the first Wednesday or Friday of college I can’t remember which, Keon and I ran into his shannon tennis buddies from Jackson. We were walking towards the Grill on the sidewalk opposite the parallel sidewalk in front of the ICC library, Mallory and Megan were walking towards us, away from the grill. He introduced us and I finally got to put a face with the Whitehead name from Biology that I neglected to look up on facebook.

She sat in the middle of a group of boys and girls in that class that she was apparently friends with, or at least she wanted to create that illusion. Dr. Lay however, wasn’t one for any kind of foolishness, and when one of the boys in her group started acting up in class, Dr. Lay called them all out in the middle of his lecture! So we met on a let’s say Wednesday, I assume Dr. Lay called them out on a Friday, since that would have been our next class together, and Monday when I sat down in Biology, Mallory came and asked if she could sit next to me, so she wouldn’t get in trouble over there talking. So she talked to me instead, but just not rudely during the lecture. 

We had that class from 11:00-11:50 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and the BSU luncheon was kicking off that same Wednesday. So, since I’d already planned to go, and we were getting used to sitting together, we walked across campus together. She still claims credit for inviting me to the BSU for the first time, but I was planning to go anyway. Either way, that’s how our love started.

I got them digits, texted her up and then we went to the first ICC home football game together on a Thursday night August 31, 2006. She joined me up to the same Small Group Bible study a the BSU, and our first date was Fulton Burger King where she wrote our names in mustard on the burger paper. I kissed her on the banks of the Tennessee Tombigbee on September 21, 2006. We became “facebook official” on October 2, 2006, and I told her I loved on November 2 on our one month anniversary.

2006 ICC Football Schedule

We spent most of our free time together for those two ICC years, we survived our year of separation when she went the the “W” and we made it back to Starkville together. God didn’t make either of us patient but both of us long suffering, and we’ve held together through thick and thin. We made a deal when we first started dating that we would never “take a break” and that if we ever broke up it would be for real, not for just a day or two. I guess that’s like saying we’d give our love every opportunity to succeed, and if it did not succeed we would break up, but only after every ounce of patients and long suffering and love and forgiveness we could muster was exhausted. And we came bad close a time a two. There were times that we were both about tired of each other, but we knew that if we broke it off it was over, so we never did. 

They say that once a bone has been broken, when it heals, it is stronger than it was before the break. People try to apply that to relationships, but I think mine and Mallory’s relationship is strong today because we never took a break. You don’t get breaks in life. You don’t take timeouts when things are hard, you work through them, and with the Lord’s help, we always have. She’s my ally and my best friend, and outside of the Lord Jesus, she’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. She’s everything I ever wanted, and everything I need. She’s like the Eve to my Adam, she’s just what I was missing. She’s a help that is mete for me. She makes my blood flow.

These weren't the original profile pictures

I never delete my messages. I’ve got messages on my iPhone from the day I first turned it on. Every conversation. And I’ve got every facebook conversation I’ve ever had still on facebook. I didn’t delete them. The reason is that I guess I knew back then that someday I might want to look back at those messages. Maybe they might be important or mean something, regardless of how trivial they were at the time. Mallory said she couldn’t find the facebook messages that started our romance in June of 2006, but I found them. I kept them. But as I scanned the archives of my facebook messages, I remembered something about myself. I found more girls than just Mallory. I would never have remembered if I hadn’t looked, but I had multiple girls that initiated conversation with me, flirted with me, and wanted to meet up and hang out over that summer...I blew all of them off. 

Notice the dates...I blew her off!

I don’t say that to brag, it’s just true. I can show you the messages. But I didn’t blow them off because I was some kind of stud that had tons of girls to choose from (not that that wasn’t true!! j/k). I blew them off for reasons… One girl was flirting with me rather persistently and I asked about her church. She said she was Catholic, and I blew her off. Another girl was telling me what she’d done over the weekend and she said she’d spent some time partying, so I didn’t message her back. I’d decided that I was gonna wait till I found a righteous girl that God wanted me to be with. I’d learned the hard way, in high school, about jumping ahead of God to the best available girl instead of waiting for the best girl, and I made up my mind not to do that anymore. I don’t think Mallory included this in her story, but she had several eligible suitors during her senior year and freshman summer. She blew all of the off. I blew those girls off because I was waiting for Mallory, and I didn’t even know it. I blew her off because I didn’t know she was who I was waiting for.

All my life I’d been waiting for her, now we are waiting for June 23, 2012 together.

The Love Story By Mallory.

Every Spring the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal publishes a section of the paper dedicated to special honor graduates from the local high schools: the valedictorians, salutatorians, STAR students, class presidents, and so on. That section of the paper is set up in a way where the students, with their carefully written awards lists and future plans paragraph, are sectioned off by counties. Pontotoc County students are together, Union County students are together, Chickasaw, Monroe, Itawamba, and Lee County are all sectioned of in neat little groups. It just so happened that in May of 2006 Mallory Whitehead was named valedictorian of Shannon High School and Jeremy Haynes was named STAR student of Mooreville. In that black and white thin paper sheet that I'm sure both of our mothers still have put up in some keepsake book, was the first time I laid eyes on him. We were right there together, only about three inches apart.

I suppose I was in that post senior year arrogance where I thought I could take on the world, because he was so handsome that I added him on Facebook. I, being Miss Hospitable, sent him a message explaining who I was, why I added him, and congratulating him on his recent accomplishments. He, being always polite, responded with "Thank you, you too." My futile efforts to create a conversation with this handsome boy who likes fishing and football and whose life goal is to follow God's will for his life, literally ended with an unanswered question on my computer screen. What a jerk.

The following fall I, like nearly every other graduate in Northeast Mississippi, went to Itawamba Community College to continue my education. My first day of college was on a Tuesday. I took English Comp I and then college algebra. Wednesday was my first day of whatever that computer class was, Chem I and Dr. Lay's general biology class. Out of the five thousand or so ICC students, I cannot explain how or why it happened but by The Good Lord's sovereignty, but Jeremy and I were in the same General Biology I class. I have a memory like an elephant (Jeremy will laugh at that), but when sweet ole' Dr. Lay called the class roll the first day and I heard "Jeremy Haynes" I knew immediately that he was the boy from Mooreville who had ignored me on Facebook... and he looked just as cute as he had in the newspaper. After that class was lunch, where I happened to run in to him and Keon Poindexter on the sidewalk outside of the cafeteria. Concerning Keon, I often find myself saying, "Keon knows everyone!" I suppose he's always been that way, because he knew me from the state tennis tournament, where the prior April we had played card games together in the lobby of the hotel. Even though I was fairly confident back then, Keon broke the ice between Jeremy and I right there on that cracked sidewalk, which is where I first spoke to Jeremy in person. I still remember what he was wearing that day: his green Mooreville baseball t-shirt, which I later found out was his "chick-getting" shirt. I guess it worked, because within a week we were sitting next to each other, passing notes and batting eyelashes in biology class.

Things came incredibly naturally during the next months or so. We flirted, had our first date at the Fulton Burger King where I wrote his name in mustard, went the the first football game together, and rode a thousand loops around that community college campus. Eventually Jeremy mustered up the courage to take me on a date to the Tombigbee river bank one night. We sat on that Superman blanket and he sang Alan Jackson songs to me, and then he finally kissed me. We officially became boyfriend and girlfriend on October the second, and a month later he told me that he loved me. I would have told him sooner, but I think it's only proper to wait on the boy to say it first.

It really is a lovely story, how the two of us met and all. If you know us at all, however, you know that we can argue with the best of them. Jeremy and I may be the two most stubborn people on God's green earth, so that has invoked many squabbles, and I'm sure there are many more to come. God made us just stubborn enough, though, to not give up on each other. Once, Jeremy told me that he didn't think we were going to work out and that he was going to break up with me. I told him that I didn't believe him, and after about five minutes of sitting on my front steps and neither one of us saying a word, I guess I confused him enough to stick around.

After dating for nearly five years, Jeremy decided to ask me to marry him last July. I knew that it was coming because Jeremy is a terrible liar and not so great at hiding surprises. He got on one knee at the bench  on the southeast corner of the Lee County courthouse, and I said yes... after I asked him why I should marry him. I admit, that was a mean, dirty line to say to a man on one knee with a diamond ring in his hand. I still don't know why he thinks I should marry him, but I said yes anyway.

He's my best friend. I really have loved him since before that one month anniversary. He makes me think and he holds me accountable for what I think. He thinks I'm the most special thing ever created. God made us both peculiar enough to not only deal with each other's peculiarities but build on them. Every time that I see "56" or something to do with fishing or football, I think about his sweet self. I tell him everything that makes me laugh or makes me mad. Even if for some reason he left me now, he would leave me better than he found me.

In a few weeks they are going to print our engagement picture in the Sunday issue of the Daily Journal. I'm sure that our moms will cut out the black and white picture printed on the thin paper, and put it in a keepsake book somewhere. So I guess that brings this story full circle. 

Wedding Braces.

It's no secret that I've gotten braces for the wedding. I suppose adult orthodontics can be a sore subject for some, but I think my braces are legit. 

I'm pretty sure that I could have bought a small car with the money I've spent on my teeth. 

I had my wisdom teeth taken out in May.

And since then...

I've been to the dentist a lot.

A whole lot.

Did I mention that I make regular dentist visits?

Had a lot of dental work.

Finally got all of the dental work completed and on Valentine's Day, 

got the tin grin.

Last picture with crooked teeth.

Legit.

The teeth are surprisingly straight already. I really don't understand orthodontics at all. They clip metal wire to your teeth, and somehow the teeth magically know where to go. 

For the first two weeks I ate mashed potatoes and complained a lot. 

They feel a lot better now, though. 

Jeremy thinks they are cute, and tells me when I get spinach stuck in them. Sweet boy. 

The plan is to have them removed for the wedding and then put back on afterwards. 

Worth it. 

Megan Whitehead.

What to write about my sister? My twin sister. It just so happens that today is our 24th birthday. I didn't intend for that to happen in the beginning, but it does kind of make this post a little special. I've always known that Megan would be my maid of honor. I mean, really, the twin sister is a shoe in. When we were little, we would get in childish spouts and oust eachother from the position, but that never stuck for long. So here we are, grown ups and being the "of honor"s in each other's weddings this summer. We obviously met in the womb of Mae Whitehead. We are identical twins born one minute apart in the grand ole year of 1988.

We really have done everything together. Went to nursery together, started school together, graduated together, went to college together, and now are planning weddings together.  When we started kindergarten my mom took us to the school on the first day to introduce us to the teacher. Instead of Megan and I being upset, my mom was the one that left the school crying. That's pretty much how life has gone. I've never been afraid of much of anything because I've always had a partner in crime to go with me. Megan has seen the good, the bad, and the real real ugly. She's been there through all the crushes on the good lookin' high school boys, the first boyfriends that you didn't speak to except when you invited them to our birthday party, the first love, and the horrible break up that that ended with, and of course my college years with Jeremy.

A question that everyone in the world ask twins about their boyfriends: "Have y'all every switched places on 'em?!" Well… I can tell you a little story about that. Jeremy and I started dating in the fall of my freshman year at ICC. One weekend Megan and I were home in Shannon, and he was at his house in Mooreville. I must have been getting ready to go out that night, because when he called I told Megan to just answer the phone. Before she could get out that she was Megan instead of Mallory, Jeremy starts in a romantic speech… "I'm in the middle of a field watching the sunset, and I wish you were here…" Of course Megan burst into laughter, tells me what Jeremy said, and then we both burst into laughter. That is the only time that Jeremy Haynes has got mad and hung up the phone on me. So technically, we have never switch places on our boyfriends, but there are occasional misshaps that are bound to happen with two people that look and sound just alike.
Another question is how in tarnation are we going to split all of the piles of stuff that we have shared for our entire lives? Clothes, shoes, the hair straightener, television, movies, socks, underwear, a crock-pot, the metal chicken... (Yes, we share underwear. I've really not ever thought that as being weird. They are clean, and it would be incredibly troublesome to separate them from the dryer after they were washed. Do you know what all of your underwear looks like?) The solution is a NFL style draft that will take place closer to time. We're just going to have to take turns picking from the pile like grown women. This is the only solution that we could think of that would be more civilized than a legal divorce. (I feel a post about The Draft coming on later.)

Megan has been my rock throughout most of my life. She's steady, and up until now, I always knew that she would be there when I experienced new surroundings. I suppose she'll still be there in a sense that we're both going to be newly weds at the same time, just 15 minutes down the road. People have asked me how I feel about Megan and Ben deciding to get married three weeks after Jeremy and me. Do I think she's stealing my thunder? Absolutely not. For Pete's sake, we share everything. We might as well share the wedding summer.

I will conclude this series of posts with a quote I got out of the Daily Journal from a set of twins from Oxford that wrote a book about being twins: 
"People will ask, 'What's it like being a twin? We don't know what it's like not the be. A lifelong gift, she's it. The greatest gift God gave me, she's it."

Brittney McPherson.

I suppose at 24 years old, not many people have friends that they went to kindergarten with. That's where Brittney and I met, I'm guessing. With most friendships, I can remember the first time we met each other, but my memory gets fuzzy about where us two met, like she's always been around. It's kind of like the memory you have of first meeting your grandmother or the first time you brushed your teeth. You don't have that memory because you've always known your grandmother and it seems like you've always brushed your teeth. Although after thinking about it, I guess you couldn't have brushed your teeth before you had them, so I guess you haven't always brushed your teeth. But what I'm trying to say is that the exact moment that we met is unclear. I believe that means that I have a good friend. We were both in Mrs. Christian's first grade class, and accomplished many life goals that year together... learning to read, to not absolutely have to take a nap during the day, and to walk down the hall in a straight line to the bathroom. We also had our first theatrical debut together with our 1st grade Peter Rabbit performance. Brittney acted out the role of Mother Rabbit while Megan and me were Peter's twin sisters (we were a shoe in) Floppsy and Mopsy. Embarrassing. I'm sure that we have many of the same life memories, because like Megan, Brittney and I have pretty much experienced many of the same things together.

 Elementary school came and went and we found ourselves in junior high where they gave us access to real live lockers and a great view of the good lookin' high school boys. Between the two of us, we've probably used twenty packs of wide rule notebook paper stuffing letters decorated with hand drawn stamps about those good lookin' high school boys in each other's lockers. The funny thing is that we drooled over the same boys, and didn't think that was strange at all. Some of my favorite junior high memories are from staying the night with Brittney when we watched the Scream trilogy and rolled half of the Brewer community's yards every October. Like Hillary, me and Brittney grew up in the same church and eventually in the same youth group. Like I said earlier in Hillary's story, that group of friends had a huge impact on my life, and I wouldn't take anything for those times. After high school, Brittney and Hillary tried to go down the unbeaten path to Northeast Community College instead of Itawamba, but they eventually saw the light. In the fall of 2009 we found ourselves both headed to Mississippi State, so naturally we paired up as roommates in Starkville. I can say one thing about Brittney if anything. She is a fantastic dishwasher. I had this weird thing about our Tony Lin dishwasher in Starkville where I didn't want anyone to use it because 1. It left food particles on the dishes like you hadn't even washed them and 2. It ran up our electric bill, and like all college students, money was sparse. Bless Brittney's heart, she humored my peculiarities and me and her washed I bet 95% of the dirty dishes in that apartment. Brittney is a fantastic friend. She's one of those friends that I know will always be my friend, even if we move to different ends of the country. We'd pick right back up like nothing ever happened. That's just the way she is.

Kelsey Crawford Russell.

When Kelsey got married, she hosted a bridesmaids brunch, and she gave us all sweet little handwritten notes that inspired these sweet little typed notes for my bridesmaids. (To give me a little cred, these were originally handwritten.) In my letter she wrote about how I had Maw Maw's sweet, easy-going spirit. That's funny, because I think Kelsey has the same sweet easy-going spirit. All of Maw Maw's grandkids do… at least until we are pushed. Then we get the temper that we've inherited from Mama and Aunt Celia  that they must have gotten from their dad. Like most cousins do, we spent many Saturday afternoons playing at our Maw Maw's house. There's a magnolia tree that's still there that was perfect for climbing. Brittany, Kelsey, Megan, and I would climb as high as we could get in that tree before our mamas started screaming at us. We carved the initials of whichever 3rd and 4th grade boy from Shannon and Pontotoc Elementary that we taught was the cutest at the time. Kelsey and John dated for a long time before getting married, but I'm not so sure that his initials are there. I'm positive that JRH is nowhere on that tree surrounded by hearts. The Good Lord knows that probably all of the boys who's initials I carved in that tree are either in jail now or have three or four illegitimate children. Kelsey's only a year older than me, so she was sort paved the road for me and Megan growing up. She broke Uncle Tommy into the idea of us little cousins having boyfriends so that he didn't pick at us too much, she let me know how high school was really like, and when she went to community college she let me and Megan get a taste of how it was by hosting us in her dorm room. That's what older cousins do, and she's a good one.

Amanda Whitehead Tennison.

Amanda is the only cousin I have on my dad's side of the family. She's three years older than me and Megan, and from what I've been told, she was the only little kid that daddy was around a lot before us. Therefore, she is solely responsible for preparing my dad for raising two twin girls. Growing up, I've been told stories about how Amanda tottled behind my dad everywhere he went, even to the bathroom-which was good practice for him considering that he's shared one bathroom with three females since 1988. Amanda, Megan, and I spent many days of our childhood at Memama's house "cutting up." Cutting up mostly included stringing dull pink grandma crocheting yarn from every knob, hook, or sturdy structure to another sturdy structure in her living room. It also involved tying Memama up with the same dull pink crocheting yarn, and playing dress up with her long Sunday dress skirts. Every once in a while, Memama would let us have a little bit of her cooking flour and we would play restaurant with the pots and pans that she kept in her well house. Amanda was the first person to teach me the cooking lesson that water plus flour equals dough, which is pretty much the most foundational lesson that someone can know about cooking. I'm sure that will come in handy when I'm cooking for Jeremy. When Amanda got married a few years ago, that was the first wedding I'd ever been in as anything except for the kid that hands out the birdseed. She's returning the favor now, and has a sweet little boy that's going to be the ring bearer.

Carlye Carpenter.

 

The first time I met Carlye was at ICC's Baptist Student Union, when she drew a large crowd by displaying her unusual talent of screeching just like the taradactyls I saw on television as a child. First impression: "This girl is a weird-ohhhh." We hung out just a little bit at ICC… I'm not sure if that was despite of or because of the taradactyl thing. We really didn't become good friends until we both transferred to Mississippi State. Jeremy and Carlye's boyfriend, Hutch, were roommates in Starkville, which is a story in itself, so we were bound to interact a lot. Carlye, Hutch, and myself were also placed in the same family group through State's BSU, which I suppose flung us into a close friendship. One of my favorite things about Carlye is that she's always up for anything. A couple of summers ago, six of my friends and I, including Carlye, got a wild hair and took an all-girl road trip across six of the southeastern United States. We did everything from crack crab legs in Tybee Island, Georgia to white water raft in North Carolina to line dance at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville. Of course Carlye was in the middle of it all, pitching tents like a champ, driving unfamiliar roads for hours and hours at a time, and roasting some wonderful burnt hotdogs over the campfire. That is definitely one of those trips that I'll show pictures of to my grandkids and tell stories it about forever. Carlye's a real sweet girl. One day during the semester in Starkville when Megan was very very sick with her stomach issues, I got locked out of my apartment because Megan had to go to the emergency room to get an IV. Carlye graciously let me cry and nap on her couch and consoled my hurt feelings.

Sometimes it's good to have couple friends. Hutch and Carlye get that it's not corny or lame for Jeremy to open my car door, and they get that it's good to talk to each other every night even if we have nothing more to say to each other than "Hey…umm…I don't have anything new to tell you…just wanted to hear your sweet voice." Not that Jem and me ever do that, of course… When us four are together, the boys can talk about ESPN and us girls can talk about shoes. It makes things functional. You get what I'm saying? Couple friends are good to have, and they are an excellent friend couple.

Tara Morgan.

Tayrah Morgan. Who doesn't want Tara Morgan to be in their wedding? She's going to be the governor of Mississippi for Pete's sake. I met Tara at ICC, mainly through mutual friends. I supposeour friendship didn't start out on the best foot. Ashley McMillen, one of those mutual friends, chose to go to Tara's high school graduation to hear her speech over mine and Megan's speeches. I was like, "Who is this girl?!" Turns out that we would end up having a whole lot in common and becoming really good friends. The year I was bound to the Mississippi University for Women, she and the rest of apartment twelve were gracious enough to host the Columbus crew in Starkville every Tuesday night for BSU. We have eaten an ungodly amount of Abner's chicken together, taught each other awesome dance moves, and played Catch Phrase until we couldn't breathe any more for laughing so hard. She's been a really strong friend to have, given me good advice when I needed it, and I couldn't be more happy that she's going to be a part of mine and Jeremy's big day. 

Brittany Crawford Mallini.

The cousin Brittany. As far back as I can remember, Brittany has been the cousin who liked to "primp" as my mother and Aunt Celia would say. When we were little she would  put that little kid makeup on me, Megan, and Kelsey and paint our fingernails little girl pink. I also remember one time when I was probably in the sixth grade, Brittany asked me, "When are you going to start wearing makeup?!" With a comment like that coming from your older cousin, this middle schooler definitely sent her mother to Walmart the next Saturday to get a pile of Covergirl makeup. I hold Brittany directly responsible for me wearing makeup, which most certainly helped in getting Jeremy to marry me. This automatically qualifies her as a bridesmaid. She may also be responsible for inspiring the bright red lipstick that I will be wearing on the big day as well as the five inch heels that I picked out for the bridesmaids to wear.

Kayla Coward.

I actually met Kayla at a scholarship interview at the W in the spring of 2008. (Neither one of us got the scholarship) That day, she told us about these really nice apartments near the Columbus hospital that we may want to check out. My roommates and I did check out and rent one of those apartments, and lo and behold is Kayla Coward wasn't our across the road neighbor. Either the first or second time I talked to Kayla was when she was running around Waverly Complex chasing Pepper, her roommates dog, that she had let get out of their apartment. Pepper the devil dog. That initial encounter is a good analogy for Kayla's personality, because she's always doing something outrageously unusual and energetic. Even though I was only in Columbus less than a year and hated every minute of it, Kayla became one of my best friends. Our friendship came really easy because Kayla has never been shy around a single soul in her life, and she was hospitable in a place that did not have much hospitality to speak of. She's cooked for me, ate my cooking, we've taught Megan how to cook together… har har, Megan. She's witnessed many of mine and Megan's intense sisterly quarrels and helped find everything fun in Columbus to do, which isn't much. And for the record, riding the Gravatron fair ride in the KMart parking lot was not fun. Kayla is one of the kindest ladies that I've ever met, and I am blessed to have her be a part of mine and Jeremy's wedding day.

Karissa Haynes Brock.

The groom's sister is a shoe-in for a bridesmaid, but she really is one of mine and Jeremy's best friends. She's been my bed buddy in Alabama on every trip to Maw Maw Fee's house on Thanksgiving and Christmas. She's been on my side of stupid arguments with Jeremy and Cody about whether the salt or pepper shaker should have the more holes. Also, she probably had a lot to do with everything that Jeremy knew about girls when I found him, like fingernail polish, bobby pins, and mascara. I've never had a big brother, or any brother for that matter, but Karissa has graciously shared her big brother with me. She has never once complained to me about Jeremy spending countless hours in Shannon, and he has spent countless hours there instead of Eggville. For that I'm grateful. I'm also grateful that she's prepared Mrs. Paula for all of her children being married and out of the house by getting married four months before us. By June 23rd, I'm sure they'll all be ready for the weddings to be over.

Hillary Jones.

It's a thousand wonders how Hillary and I are even friends. Our relationship started out in elementary school with Hillary refusing to play with me and Megan on the Shannon Elementary playground followed by her making fun of my multi-colored polished fingernails. I eventually figured out how to take her sarcasm, and we became good friends. We also grew up together in the same youth group at Brewer Baptist Church. Actually, the first time I ever visited Brewer was because Hillary invited me when I was in the 4th grade. Soon after that, my family joined Brewer church, which has turned out to have a tremendous impact on my twenty-three year old life. The Good Lord knows He's seen us through some of the crazy things we've done as the Brewer Baptist youth group, and most of those memories include Hillary Jones. We've eaten pickled pigs feet for BBC's FearFactor, jumped off bridges into rushing river water in Eastern Tennessee, and gotten in big trouble for sneaking out late at night at GBA church camp before Hurricane Katrina blew it away. Hillary was there during the only major car accident I've ever been in when we flipped the church van down the hill… also in Eastern Tennessee. All twenty-or-so of us squeezed together in one fifteen-passenger van for the rest of that week. Those youth group days are honestly some of my fondest memories thus far in life. Hillary and I are also tennis buddies. We've endured running in cold February afternoons at Shannon Park and foot drills in the hottest part of the Mississippi summers. We've been to Jackson for the state tennis tournament at least four times, even if it was just as "hamburger eaters" as Coach Christian called the players that didn't qualify for the state tournament and just ate the free meals paid for by the tennis boosters. To be honest, Hillary probably qualified for state, and I didn't, but we were there together nonetheless.  Hillary and I have been through some seriously bad times in life together, and also celebrated some really good ones together. She 

is one of my oldest and closest friends.

Keon Poindexter.

Finally Keon. I'd say, from the outside, we'd look like unlikely best friends. We were brought up in very different ways. I was raised a Bama fan and used to winning, and he was a State fan… 

We met at school, I'm sure, but the first distinct memory I have of Keon was him coming up to me during a summer workout at football, summer before junior year, and he was completely amused by the fact that I always had a Gatorade and a water with me everyday. He's been laughing at my peculiarities ever since. Junior year we had Ag together and on Gamedays me, Keon, and Trent Kelly would leave Big Larry's class and go visit Mrs. Tabbie, then go to the field house. We remained friends that year and during summer football workouts, I invited him to Youth Camp. The rest is history so they say. He got addicted to camp and started coming regular to our church in September of that year.

Keon and I connect on all four of the four most important things in life:  football, music, church and food. We obsessed about football, me probably more than him. Even at that first Youth Camp together in 2005 we talked about football and playoffs in every spare moment. Football, to us, meant a way of life more than a pass time. We understood in high school what most people don't realize until they are grown- football is two things- magical and temporary. To describe the magic, we bonded through music, and as our senior season wore on, music also began to describe the temporariness of it, and music has continued to describe every stage of life. As a matter of fact, there hasn't been a situation yet in our friendship that we could not relate to music and football. Those two would be our closest bond if it weren't for church. It was actually music and football that brought Keon to church. We'd spend Wednesdays before practice in my truck listening to music and he'd just ride with me after practice to church. He kept coming and got saved in February of our senior year after the Valentine banquet. That's when we truly became brothers. From Bible studies at ICC to being roommates, Keon has seen me at my highest spiritual highs and my lowest spiritual lows, and has been involved in both. "Word of God Speak," said for us what we wanted to say, and is still the only thing some people know us for. Finally, food. I still remember the first time we invented and tried "Bill Gates Pie." Changed my life. And our true genius showed up the way all genius does. It was like an itch we couldn't scratch or a craving we couldn't satisfy until we invented fluxuous. Fluxuous is probably something similar to what the fruit tasted like on the tree that Adam and Eve ate. It has two things in common- irresistible temptation and if you eat it you will surely die. But it is like Fourth of July to your tongue.

Keon is my bestman because he is the only person I can have a full conversation with using only music, movie, and ESPN quotes. He's the only friend I have who truly appreciates Big and Rich, Kanye West, John Mayer, The Rochesters, and The Erwins all at the same time. He's the only person I know that when I mention Panama City Beach, the first thing that comes to mind is sausage balls. He's the only person that can start singing the same random song as me at the same time without prior discussion and it be in perfect harmony… and it's happened several times. We are the only two people in the world who have tied on a coin toss, which defeats the purpose of a coin toss. Mallory and I can finish each other's sentences. Keon and I can't but we can start each others' sentences which is way weirder. And he's the person I'm most likely to die with because if we ever eat sausage balls and fluxuous together I'm pretty sure it would stop our hearts. Both of our email addresses end in "356."

Justin Haynes.

The closest thing I have to an older brother… actually he is my older brother. Justin has known me since I was born, and that's about the time he started teaching me the ways of the world. I probably got on his nerve a lot and in his way a lot, but I think the enjoyment he got out of always having an audience and a pupil outweighed his annoyance. From our grand adventures in the woods, to our many unfinished building projects, we spent many grand days together. Justin is full of endless projects. We built many bow and arrows, attempted a brick wall, and even tried to dig a tunnel like the concentration camp guys on the "Great Escape." Our best times were playing "tennis-ball-baseball" with our array of rules, and our NBA and NCAA basketball careers we had on the concrete slab at our house. Justin also taught me about girls. He gave me some words to live by once as only Justin can. He told me to always be nice to girls, even if they are fat and ugly because fat and ugly girls have pretty friends! Of my ten brothers on this list, Justin is my brotherest brother. He knows me for what and who I am and that's how I know him. He's one of the few people that can tell me something I haven't already thought of, and that's almost enough to qualify him for a groomsman by itself.

Seth Cayson.

The closest thing I have to a younger brother. I met him whenever his mom brought him home from the hospital. Our friendship started at youth camp in probably 2002 or 2003. We all had our little group of cool people and even though he was a good bit younger than us, he was cool enough to be in our group. Youth camp friendships are unique because even if you don't regularly see or chat with someone, you still have that special bond. So that's the bond me and Seth had. Even though we saw each other at church pretty regularly, we didn't really hang out except for at camp. As us older "cool" ones got too old to be campers and had to be counselors, we all tried to live vicariously through Seth. He became one of the original members of the "Sleep All Day Then Go Out To Eat" club that we have made a tradition on the Saturday youth camp ends. As time went on and he got into high school, the gap between our ages became less significant, and he became more of a peer than a younger brother. Youth camp a couple years ago brought us closer than we'd ever been. Seth and I are similar in ways we can't even tell other people about and we connect deep in ways it's hard to explain. Even though that sounds real gay… #nohomo. It's not that we can't tell you, it's just none of your dang business. Still sounds gay. Seth is one of the few people I've laughed and cried with, and boy do we ever laugh!

Rob Chittom.

ICC BSU was a mosh posh of neutrality. There were a few really liberal active folks, a few really conservative, and a lot more that were somewhere in the middle. Rob and I met because one of the leftwingers was one of the BSU directors, and Rob told him that he was looking for a Bible study group that was King James only. Of course he sent Rob right to me. Rob and I met in the BSU hallway in a heavy crowd of people because he both believed in the KJV. He joined my Bible study and down the road I went to his. Little did Rob know , the 1987 Southern Baptist Convention conservative vs. liberal debate was about to take place in the 2007-2008 ICC BSU, and somehow Lance and I got shoved to the front line. Rob soon joined us and that's what truly made us friends. Rob had actually already known or met me earlier in 2007 at Youth Camp, but since he only came for the services, we didn't really get to know each other. In 2008, Rob did come to camp and that deepened our friendship. You don't have to come to GMBC church camp to be my friend, but it goes a long way to helping you understand me. My third year at ICC, I lived off campus in a house with two guys that Rob introduced me to. We all spent way way way too many hours playing ping-pong at that house, and that's when we discovered Rob's smirk. If Rob has ever beaten you at anything, you know the smirk. It's probably my favorite thing in the world to hate. He was the brains behind our house situation in Starkville. He found the roommates and Hutch, I think, found the house. Of us four housemates, Rob and I were actual roommates, and like Lance at ICC, Rob and I grew at depth because of late night conversations about God, girls, and life. He's been my most consistent accountability partner and faithful Christian example I've had through my college years. Grumpy's Tuesdays, Western Wednesdays, Hearts Thursdays, Sling Pong Friday nights and Football Saturdays marked two great years we spent in Starkville. Rob is the only friend I have that even comes close to staying up as late as I do, and that bond has deepened our friendship as much as anything because of the countless times one of us needed to talk and the other was awake to talk. Rob is my convicted friend. Rob has convictions. And if push came to shove, Rob would die for his convictions. I admire that about him. P.S. I'm writing this at 1:45 am on a Sunday morning and Rob and I are texting.

Tyler Cayson.

Tyler, like Justin, is one of the originals. Me and TC were friends before we were old enough to know we were friends. Grew up together. Both middle children with older and younger siblings close to the same age. Ty was involved in some of mine and Justin's escapades through the woods and the NBA as well as a few of our own. TC was one of the founding members of the previously mentioned "cool groups" that we let Seth be in. Eventually, we kicked the girls out and the group became known as the Batman Squad at youth camp. Tyler was my original fishing buddy, and when I got my driver's license it became a pretty regular deal. We also share a good bit of pyromania, which along with fishing, seems to be a theme with my friends. Tyler and I share one of the deepest non-church related connections I have-football. Tyler and I bled, sweated, and cried together in that Trooper uniform. We even got in a couple fights on the field because of our loyal friendships to each other. Not fights with each other, fights for each other. And I won't spend anymore time talking about us and Trooper football because you wouldn't understand anyway if you weren't there. Tyler is my most loyal friend, and probably the most loyal person I know. He's been my boy through thick and thin (see Josh Ramsey at Youth Camp 2005). And though I hope I never have to, I'd go to war with 77. Anyday.