"Engaged is the new black"

That gem comes from my brother, a recently-engaged man himself. The rings have really been flying lately--brother, cousins, some more or less random folks I grew up with, none of whom I know all that well but the fact that they're all in the old local paper all at the same time, getting married, makes one pay attention.

The strangers --former classmates and neighbors, acquaintances-- that's just coincidence and curiosity, but for the people I know and love, my brother especially, it's an occasion for astonishing delight. I can't say this out loud without sounding trite, and probably preposterously drunk but: it's a beautiful thing, maybe even miraculous. It seems really extraordinary that people in this day and age can love this way--that your family, and your heart, grows to expand and encompass someone else, amid all the distractions and pressures and events of life in this day and age. With everything else that concerns us, that occupies us, how does one even have the time or ability to fall in love that way? But we do, and I'm elated about it. It's elating enough when it happens to you, but when it happens to a person you've known and loved since birth--before, even--it's really extraordinary.

So hooray for the engaged. Bravo for the beloved. It's an extraordinary and wonderful day when engaged is the new black.