Raise Your Glasses

In two short weeks, one of my very best friends will be getting married. In case you’ve been following along, I still have not received the 30 Day Shred in the mail. WTF Amazon?! I only have 15 days left now, so there goes that plan. But anyways, I’ve known Stephanie since we were five years old so, do the math, that’s 20 years that we’ve been friends. That not only amazes me, but also makes me feel very old.

Last night I was at the gym for a spinning class and it suddenly occurs to me that I have to give a toast at the wedding. In front of 198 people (latest guest list tally). OMG. What am I going to say? Luckily it will be a co-toast with Mary Beth, but still. As I pedaled along, I started to think back on moments I could mention in my speech. Moments that would be both touching and funny. I want laughter and tears during my toast. I remembered the day I met Stephanie, when she knocked on my front door the morning my family moved to Dallas from Tulsa. I remember roller skating around the neighborhood with her, spending hours playing dolls, Barbies, school, house, office, and countless other pretend games. I remember how every year for Christmas, we’d always get several of the same things, something we knew Santa had worked out for us. In Middle School we made up dances in our living rooms and filmed hours of goofy movies on my parents’ video camera. My mom would drop us off at the mall, where we’d spend the twenty bucks we made babysitting on Sun Ripened Raspberry body lotion at Bath and Body Works. We went through my brother’s Jesuit yearbook to pick out all the boys we had crushes on when we started high school and studied together for exams before Christmas Break. In college, we went to school several states away but still stayed in touch. I remember on my 22nd birthday she left me a voicemail saying that I only had one year left to find a husband if I wanted to fulfill our childhood dream of getting married at 23. Then just after we graduated from college, I called her up to talk and she told me she had met a boy that she was going to marry. And now here she is, getting ready to walk down a real aisle and really marry this boy - not for pretend like when we were kids and I always ended up playing the role of priest.

I grew up with Stephanie and I am beyond excited for her big day in a few weeks. I can’t believe the moment we’ve dreamed of since we were in kindergarten is really here for her. I hope my toast does it justice. Waiter, bring on the champagne. Better keep it coming before I have to get up in front of the microphone!