Sharier and Syra

Sharier is my oldest friend. By that, I mean he is the person I've known the longest with whom I keep some kind of regular contact with. As such he's one of the few people in my life who I have seen grow and change over a vast range of ages and phases, as has he me.

There are a few constants with Sharier though. The first: that he's a blumming clever chap, and an unashamed one at that. He taught me not to apologise for or to hide intelligence, and that displaying it didn't mean you were showing off or putting other people down (I do that all by myself). Related to this is the importance he places on increasing knowledge; that it's not a waste of time to learn new things. Finally, and perhaps ironically on the surface, that having intelligence didn't imply that you had to use it; that it wasn't a waste of talent to aim for a modest or relatively uneventful (yet totally fulfilling) life. It wouldn't be too wrong of me to blame/thank him for my academic success as well as my lack of world changing ambition.

Seeing him married is, of course, the latest phase I've seen him in. Him and Syra work well together clearly best friends as well as husband and wife. Syra has this uncanny ability to easily be both modest and reserved but friendly also, a balance that many of us struggle to find nowadays.

It's great to see them together, and (if I could make this personal) they both demonstrate an image of what I hope my own marriage one day to look like.