Almost 6 years ago my younger daughter A____ was married to a young man from our home town of Victoria, TX, whose name is T_____ B_____. I'm referring to them this way to spare them the embarrassment of seeing their names on the internet in my blog. Not that anyone who knows them would read this, or care if they did, but...
The groom was then a 6 foot 7 inch tall Navy enlisted man. That should explain the second and third paragraphs in the toast below.
As Father of the Bride (sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?), I stood up during the reception dinner and made the following speech. I had written it out beforehand and memorized it. I came across it today and thought I’d share it with you.
(Ahem.)
A TOAST — TO THE NEW MR. AND MRS. T_____ B_______.
I had the opportunity to speak at my daughter A____’s high school graduation. Although she was home-schooled through high school, she had participated in sports and cheerleading activities with Crossroads Christian School, so we were invited to join their graduation ceremony. Of course, her teacher was her mom, Carol, and she enjoyed a teacher/student ratio of 1:1. At that time I referred to her as being first in her class, and, quite literally, in a class by herself.
T_____, to the best of my knowledge, has never been in that same sense "in a class by himself." However, in most of his experiences he has found himself to be above his classmates… especially when he stands up. In fact, he is definitely "head and shoulders above the crowd" in almost every situation. So Carol and I are truly delighted to welcome T_____ into our family as someone we can all look up to.
The Navy considers T____ to be a "First Class Petty Officer." A very apt title! He is without question First Class in every respect to all of us gathered here, and especially to A____. So, I think we can all agree that these two are now jointly in a class by themselves… a classy couple… truly a class act!
And now, my toast!
Nearly 31 years ago, in Corpus Christi, Texas, another small wedding was celebrated between a young man in the United States Navy and a young woman from South Texas. It, like this one, joined two people who had met, were separated by thousands of miles for a while, wrote lots of letters, decided that "letters just weren't cutting it any more," (to steal a phrase from A_____'s invitation) and so became man and wife.
Like A___ and T____, these two were, first of all, best friends. In the years that followed their love became richer, deeper, and fuller. There were many, many more good times than bad; and the good times were very, very good, while the bad times were not all that bad. The Lord richly blessed that marriage of 31 years ago. And those two are still best friends.
So, to our daughter and our new son, A____ and T______ B______. May God richly bless your marriage with good health, prosperity, and ever-increasing love and devotion for one another. May you be able to look back 31 years from now and realize that your happiness has been at least close to that experienced by Carol and myself; for to equal ours would be miraculous, and to exceed ours, impossible!
Yeah, I’m proud of my little speech, but I’m a lot prouder of them. Now, some six years later, they’re doing great.
Maybe my prayer at the end is being answered.
No comments:
Post a Comment