To Payton: A Timeless Love

Spencer (October 18th, 2025)

Hi, everyone. For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Spencer, and I’m one of the groomsmen. I’m relatively new to the lineup. Of everyone here, I think I’m the newest addition. But as Payton lovingly joked this past weekend, our friendship is 3 going on 30.

Anyone who knows us can attest: we are inexplicably cut from the same cloth. It’s a weird cloth, but it's the same one. Our friendship hit the ground running, unlike anyone I’ve been friends with. Honestly, I’ve always found that quite interesting and have given it a good bit of thought. After mulling it over, I’ve distilled out what makes Payton and I such good friends: he is friends with my innate, child-like sense of wonder. This side is not something I’m predisposed to. He, in the kindest way possible, drags it out of me. (I mean, listen, he is the only person I know that can get a sugar high after the age of like 12; that isn’t a bad thing, or a roast; it is what I appreciate most about him).

He doesn’t just bring this to our relationship; he brings it to everything. If you pay attention, you’ll notice it everywhere. He positively bounces from room to room, with a kind of optimism that’s far too much for my cynical inclinations. But most notably and most importantly, he brings it to what we’re all here to celebrate: his love for Aubrey.

The two of them have a love that could only be described by two kids too young to even comprehend how to do things for the wrong reasons. It's a couple of school kids running around the yard, exploring the world together, without a hint of hesitation about who they want to do it with. They couldn’t imagine doubting it; that’s just their favorite person. A love so innocent, so pure that it can only be motivated by the best of intentions, because they don’t know anything else.

This isn’t to say that they’re too young, that life will get to them, or anything like that. I mean, Aubrey is a nurse; I’m sure she’s seen the full gambit of life. No, this is quite the opposite, which is rather surprising coming from me. The way they look at each other is ripped directly from a book. It’s the kind of love you theorize about. It’s something out of the realm of the forms. It's honest, pure, and untainted by the world that exists about it.

Most couples will say “I love you because” and “I love you despite”; I’ve never seen this with them. They’ve found their other half; they are resolute in that; and they’d sooner give up oxygen than the other. All of this has been a roundabout justification for a line too sappy for cynicism, but here it goes anyway: congratulations, kids; I pray your timeless love never grows up on us.