Andrea is married

"How does it feel to have chosen your new brother in law?" someone asked me at the reception.

"Great!" I replied. I am, in fact, rather pleased with myself.

I met Jeremy when I interviewed him for a job at Feature 50, my late employer. It was clear that he was a competent programmer (yes: from me, this is a compliment) and well over six feet tall. It was less obvious that he had a goofy sense of humor and a kind heart. Or that he was 32 and single. In Mormon culture, it is still "a truth universally acknowledged that a single man must be in want of a wife."

Jeremy grew on us. I say "us" because Rachel liked him too. On one occasion he crashed at our place (five minutes from the office) after working late rather than driving the hour back up to Clearfield, and made waffles for the kids in the morning. They loved him. In fact, Jeremy reminded me a lot of my brother Grant. I thought how cool it would be if the kids could have an uncle around again, and what a great uncle Jeremy would make.

Yes, this is how you start to think, as a father. Romance? The happiness of a young couple in love? Those are great side benefits but in my parenting-fogged mind my first thought really was, "He'd make such a great uncle!" Matthew seemed to agree, and later gave Andrea some unsolicited advice as to how to get this one to marry her. We still need to get Andrea to write about that.

So we set them up on a date one weekend when Andrea was in town. Truth be told, Andrea was not immediately smitten. Perhaps she still remembered the first blind date I set her up on, six years ago: Rob was a nice guy, but he didn't bring his A game that night. I also think that Andrea never really saw "computer nerds" as serious possiblities. So they would talk on the phone when she went back to Washington, but she continued to date other men. (Occasionally this made for awkward moments when Jeremy would ask me how Andrea was doing.) Ultimately, of course, Jeremy won her heart and the rest is now history. Until Saturday, though, Rachel forbade the kids from calling Jeremy "Uncle." Just in case.

Side note: "winning" a woman's heart is EXACTLY how we men see the world. Life is a competition, and the hunt for a wife is no exception. There were other men vying for Rachel's attention when I was dating her, but I WON. HAHAHAHAHA. Rachel has told me that this is a little silly, but that is how we are. And, although we might not argue the point with our wives, deep inside we know that this is something to be proud of.