Best Man

 

Who is your best man?

Ian Everett. My cousin and best friend of 24 years and counting.

How did you meet him?

I like to think think Ian and I became best friends the same day we became cousins. Which was the day I was born. Being born so few weeks apart, and our mothers being sisters, it wasn't a guarantee that we would become best friends, but I guess the cards were in our favor. I'm lucky to say I don't know a life without him. "Matt and Ian" was the very first "Matt and____" there ever was, and that's incredibly special to me. I have to remember that a friendship like ours doesn't come stock for everyone. The fact that I was given a best friend upon arriving on earth (that sounds so alien-esque) is something I will forever cherish.

What is one of your fondest memories together?

With a literal lifetime of fond memories together it's impossible to pick the fondest. So I doubt this is my actual number one, but this memory sticks out to me...
The summer before we started high school, Ian and I decided to start playing instruments with the intent of starting a band immediately. Which we did. He bought a bass and I bought a guitar and we formed a band with his younger brother on a make shift drum set consisting of a large purple tupperware bin for a bass drum and a stool for a high hat. It wasn't a real band...but God knows we took enough promo pictures for it to be one. This was some of the most fun I've had in my life. But as the time went on, and we tried to take being in a band a little more seriously, we hooked up with Chris Stillitano, a real drummer with a real drum set, and we became a little more legitimate. We practiced as often as we could, and wrote dozens of songs ranging from weird to awful, but again, some of the most fun I've ever had. The time finally came for us to play our first show. We were to play at Ian's sister's birthday party in their basement. Having an overabundance of ideas for cool things for bands to do at live shows, we decided we wanted to dress up. How we landed on this idea, I'll never remember, but we decided for the 3 of us to wear khaki pants and black t shirts. Crazy, right? But there's more... on the first song we were going to wear puffy winter coats and beanies. Boom, perfect idea. So the night of the show we gathered in a side room of the basement, which we considered to be a "backstage" and promptly named "The Underground Amp Center." An audience of a dozen middle school and high school girls were out in the main area waiting for us to come out so they could politely sit through an hour of music I guarantee none of them wanted to hear. This was the first time I'd ever played music in front of anyone that wasn't a friend...and even though the group was incredibly small, it was pretty terrifying and I was irrationally afraid to do this. So there we stood, next to old board games, each of us wearing a puffy winter jacket and hat. Except for Chris, who was wearing a wig. (He "forgot" to bring a coat and beanie, which was definitely because he was the only one of us with the slightest bit of clarity as to how dumb this idea was.) The only trace of confidence in me at that moment was that I was about to face this unnerving experience with Ian standing next to me. No matter what happened we were doing it together, and that made it possible.
That backdrop has changed many times over, but the confidence I feel knowing that Ian is by my side, whether that be physically, emotionally, or otherwise, has never changed. Knowing that he is in my corner has allowed me live my life in a way I wouldn't have been able to without him. Feels amazing, man.

Name some of his favorite things.
1. Basketball
2. Beer
3. Shredding on the guitar
4. Freaks and Geeks
5. Motorcycles
6. Dogs
7. Painting
8. This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xIYVw3ZPJk
9. Completely changing the way he looks
10. The 72-10 Bulls.

Name some of his least favorite things.

1. Kobe Bryant & The Lakers

2. Tim Duncan
3. Magellan
4. Ovadubs
5. Singing his name on anything
6. Goatees
7. Tweaking mod knobs
8. Waking up
9. Talking about himself
10. The Steve Wilkos Show

Why did you choose him as your best man?

This was determined long before I was engaged, before I started dating Kirby, before I even knew what a best man was. He so perfectly fits the role of what a best man is, it would be criminal to choose anyone else.