Carl

I met Carl the same night as the rest of my family. It was Thanksgiving (as I recall) and my sister and her boyfriend - He-who-must-not-be-named - were coming over for dinner. None of us had met her boyfriend yet and we were eager to make a good impression and welcome him into the family. At the last minute, my sister called and asked if they could bring another mutual friend. The more the merrier has always been our family motto come Thanksgiving, so we added a place at the table next to my sister.

The second they arrived, I didn't like my sister's boyfriend. I can't tell you what it was that set me off like that, but one look at his stupid, placid face and I just knew that he wasn't right for my sister. Now, I'm not the overly protective brother type. For the most part, I don't like to interfere in my siblings lives, and certainly not their love lives. So I ignored my initial feelings and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. We all went to sit in the living room and talk and eat hors d'ouvres while we waited for dinner to be ready.

Have you ever been a part of a conversation that is straight out of a bad film? Well, this was the sort of conversation we were having. Someone would say something, and then everyone would chime in with an intelligent comment, which would move the conversation onto another subject, which would provide more intelligent comments, which would move the conversation onto a third subject... and that was when my sister's boyfriend would finally say something about the first thing, and his comment wasn't very intelligent. There was an embarassed pause while we looked at him with a little mix of pity and frustration, and then we went on with the conversation we were having. All throughout the evening, he'd make comments about ten minutes after we'd moved on to another topic. So, we knew he wasn't a rocket scientist. But we still didn't really dislike him yet.

In the meantime, while we were slowly beginning to see my sister's obvious bad taste in boyfriends, I began to notice something extraordinary. This friend that they'd brought along with them - Carl - was obviously enamored of my sister. He was polite, intelligent, and not so bad looking. But more important than all that was that he understood the complexities of a relationship. He asked her if she wanted a drink. He got her a napkin, or a plate, or he pulled back her chair. If my sister hadn't been completely oblivious to his affections, she might have seen what was obviously right in front of her the entire time.

I think sometime after the Boyfriend tried to teach the new dog how to drink out his water dish and the dog looked at the Boyfriend with a mix of pity and frustration as it realized that he was no rocket scientist, the rest of the family really began to take notice of Carl as well. The Boyfriend was sort of forgotten - not hated, but ignored.

Later, of course, we all discovered just how wrong the Boyfriend was for my sister. But I think it is safe to say that besides Carl, I was probably the second person to figure out that he was a much better choice for my sister. Carl didn't want to get between his friend and his friends' girlfriend. That is something that friends don't do to each other. But in this case, he was overruled. That night, we had expected to meet my sister's Boyfriend, which we did, but what we hadn't expected was to meet my sister's future husband.

So, as my sister celebrates her fourth anniversary with her husband, I would hope at least that she remembers that had I not put two and two together, there would not be four of them now. Sometimes you have to take the blind by the hand and lead them to each other. I politely waited two days after Thanksgiving before I told my sister, "You know... you'd be much better off with Carl." I was right.

And so, in conclusion, I'd just like to say...

You're Welcome.