Love multiplied

Last week, I spent six days traveling in the other half of the country. The reason: One of my best friends from high school was getting married in Surf City, U.S.A.

I decided to make my transcontinental trip into a mini-vacation. So I stopped to see a former work friend in Denver on the way to California, then planned time after the wedding to spend with college friends who live in Los Angeles. Everywhere I went, I was with good friends who were in different stages of relationships, but unmistakably part of a couple nonetheless.

In Denver, my friend's new boyfriend let my drunk ass (stupid altitude always gets me) sit on his counter and eat Del Taco, then crash in his spare bedroom. At the wedding reception, my friend's wife entertained the girl I was been talking to while I avoided disaster by retrieving the lost key to the room I was sharing with three other guests. And the next day when I stayed with a college friend in Los Angeles, his girlfriend made up the couch for me with sheets and everything, left me a towel in the bathroom and generally made me feel as if I'd made her day by showing up, unshaven and slightly hung over on a Sunday afternoon.

Now, my friends would have done that for me, too. But that's what was so cool about this. In the first case, I'd met my friend's boyfriend earlier that night. The other two, I've met only a handful of times. And yet, all three treated me like I imagine they'd treat their own best friend, too. And I'm pretty sure that's how my friends treat the close friends of their significant others.

Not to be cheesy, but it was like love multiplied. It's as if I have twice the friends now. I found the whole thing was completely inspiring. My friends, as well as their new boyfriend, live-in girlfriend and wife, all make me want to be a better person.