It's not quite her birthday yet (it's on Saturday) but I'm so excited, I just can't wait!
Erin, I love you today, tomorrow, and every blessed day I've gotten to have you in my life. I can't wait to meet little Luke!
Originally delivered April 28, 2007
Dallas, Texas
I think I can safely stand here today and say that no two people were ever so meant to be together. Because, you see, if they weren’t…meant to be… there is simply no way we would be here today. There were simply too many details that had to line up. You can’t make this stuff up, folks. Looking around the room tonight, I can’t help but feel something beyond the amazing power of details, of dreams, of destiny, even past the divine, but of something else… something that, as we get older, it seems harder and harder to believe in. Something….well, magic.
This is a story that starts years before Joel and Erin ever met, and even years before David and I met. No, this story starts 15 years ago, when a weird, scared little kid was fortunate enough to be a new student on the exact same day, in the middle of the semester, as Erin… at Selma F. Bartlett Elementary School. Someone was surely looking out for me that day, because on that day, I met the two best friends I’m ever going to have in my life, or could ever hope to have. Just when you need some magic in your life, there will be Erin.
And for fifteen years, I have had the unequalled privilege of having a kind of soul mate in Erin. This girl is so special. An afternoon with Erin is nothing short of twinkly. Every joke is funny, every mundane event is perfect because she is there. Erin has this ability to see people and really understand who they are. She has the ability to make you feel so comfortable in your own skin, you forget that anyone else exists. She puts people at ease. She makes you feel like the funnest version of yourself. When I’m around her, I breathe a huge sigh of relief, knowing I am perfectly understood, that I would never have to explain myself, because she already knows what I mean. And that’s why everyone feels close to Erin. Erin is someone who understands the little details of people. To be around her, and I’m sure Joel will agree with me, is a touch of magic.
So we roll down through the years to high school, to 1999, and I actually have a distinct memory of us walking to out to Erin’s car, to go somewhere after school, when I said, “You know, I think I’m going to go to Georgia and study Christian theology this summer.” And while I may have been known for crazy ideas…this one seemed too much, even for me. I remember Erin replying, “That sounds like the worst idea you’ve ever had. You’re a Buddhist, Ryann. And you want to go to the Bible belt and study Christianity?? Won’t they throw Bibles at you?”
But I would not be deterred. Even then, I was keeping this wedding on track.
So I went to the thing, where I met one of the most influential people in my life. I have to tell you, when you go away to summer camp, you don’t think you’re meeting the people who will change your life, and everyone around you’s lives forever. But I remember telling Erin all about the cuuutest boy ever over lunch at Memphis BBQ when I got back…I like to think of that lunch and the look on Erin’s face as she listened, having no idea that 5 years later, I was going to set her up on a blind date with that cute boy’s cute best friend.
I remember when she texted me the day after that date…. I still have it. I heart Joel. I think I knew even then that we would be standing here today.
I have given a looooot of wedding speeches over the years, so I’ve done some reading on MOH speech etiquette. Emily Post says you’re supposed to offer a few words of advice to the newly married couple…which, seems a bit inappropriate coming from me…the last of us to remain single, but, never without something to say, I have some advice nevertheless.
Always remember the amazing set of details that it took to get you here today. And remember, that God literally had a hand in putting you two together. Know that the seemingly smallest or whimsical decisions can change your life in magical ways.
So when you have the choice to kiss her good bye in the morning, or not… when you have the choice to make up after a fight, or not… when you could compliment him or not…when you could believe in the unbelievable, the incredible…or not… know that it all could have turned out so differently, but because we all have each other, and obviously, a little bit of magic, we are blessed, that it turned out like this. And aren’t we blessed? Aren’t we?
All the love in this heart on my sleeve, to Erin and Joel and to magic....
geez that is gorgeous.
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