Weddings are like time warps. You're there to celebrate the future but you get to relive the past.

I particularly like weddings that take me away from home, and I've been fortunate to have a lot of those. It allows me to mix vacation with the obligation, and it gets me to places I might not consider -- or gets me away when I might not consider it. I haven't considered any of these weddings yet to be a burden, and I don't think I ever will.

Of course, with Matt's wedding in Seattle, it was a no-brainer. How could I not go? My whole family was there, his whole family was there, and we haven't missed anything this significant in the 25 years we've known one another.

Catching up with Matt's cousins and family was as much fun as the Seattle Underground tour and it made the night out at Kells even more enjoyable. Microbrews abound in the Northwest and I drank every day of the trip, right up to Sunday's mid-afternoon lunch at our second brewery of the week. We had beer at the house, at most meals out, even a pint in Newark Airport at 11 a.m. last Tuesday before flying out. With Matt and Denise paying for the wedding themselves, the open bar was limited to five beer choices, wine and the South (or was it North?) Dakotan tradition of Red Eye, an Everclear/sugar/water concoction served up in shots. Seven of nine bottles were drained. For whatever reason -- the clean air, the time change, heavy comforters that induced REM sweating -- I woke up rested and refreshed each day, with no hint of a hangover. I'm still marveling at that one.

Facing the prospect of rain every day of the week, we commented several times on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday about the blue patches of sky poking through and the need for sunglasses -- which Casey actually considered leaving at home. Driving around in a rented Jaguar, we spoke like the voice coming from the Hertz NeverLost system that told us how to get where we were going and found what it feels like to go 110 across Lake Washington -- in a Jaguar it feels like 80.

The week was highlighted by inside jokes old and new, from childhood days and moments earlier. Having met Denise a couple of times but never seeing her more than three days in a row (back in October, when Dave and I went out for the bachelor party), I loved finding out just how much her sense of humor fits in with ours. We also got a kick out of Xbox viewing parties, when four people -- at one time made up of Denise's mother, stepfather, grandmother and maid of honor -- endured a heated round of Jump and Duck (or Jump and Curse, as Matt's dad called it) from the Fusion Frenzy game. Xbox use was frequent, but not dominant, I'd say. Matt and I got an all-time Penn St. vs. all-time Notre Dame game in, but I was too aggressive with Joe Montana at QB (5 INTs) and had more fun later with Joe Theisman. Tim Brown caught a lot of passes though.

I also found an odd facination -- and revulsion -- from Grand Theft Auto, which did provide us with one of Matt's best lines from the week (Casey listed more): "How do you use a hooker?" His character then tried jumping on her. "That's a start," I said.

A few weeks ago, when Denise sent out the schedule of events for the week (for the groomsmen, it meant tux fitting on Thursday night, the rehearsal and dinner on Friday, setting up the stereo system on Saturday morning, and showing up in our tuxes on Saturday night), she included the reception. I asked her if I could say something at the wedding, having known Matt for 25 years. I was scheduled first, before the maid of honor and best man, and figured I wouldn't step on their speeches since I'd be drawing on our quarter-century of friendship. It turns out I set the bar really high, forcing Shawn to rethink his comments moments before he was to give them and prompting Christy, Matt's sister, to say (their mom told me) something like, "Dan's so good at making you laugh at one moment and then making you cry 30 seconds later." I didn't expect to do that, but I did find my voice shaking as I spoke into the microphone, though I think that was more from nerves. (At the short and sweet ceremony -- when Matt and Denise vowed to each other to stay together "in good football seasons and in bad" -- I found myself unexpectedly overcome at seeing their mothers crying in the front row as I stood with the groomsmen. Matt's back was to me, but it did me no good to look at the five quivering lips of the bridesmaids, so I focused on Gary, the officiant.) Though I didn't write down my toast, I'm going to take the liberty of remembering it this way, spoken confidently and strongly, clearly and smoothly:

For those of you who haven't heard yet, today's finals were Penn State 52, Indiana 7 [pause for clapping] and BYU 14 ... Notre Dame 33 [clapping and laughter]. It's the first time all season that both schools have won on the same day, so if that doesn't say something about today, then I don't know what does. I asked Denise if I could say something tonight because Matt and I have known each other since we were 2. Yesterday as we were walking around Seattle, my mom told me Matt that your mom made the comment that seeing the three of us together again -- you, me and Dave -- not much has changed. We may be older -- not grown up, just older -- but we still joke and act as we did growing up together. I think that says something about how we choose our friends and how we form and cultivate our friendships, and I think you've done it again here. Congratulations to you both. Cheers.

Let's do the time warp again.