toast to the bride...

i’ve never written a wedding speech in my life. i’ve always winged it, but this time i knew i really had to think this one through. or i guess you could say narrow it down, seeing as rachel and i have had our own platonic love affair for about 24 or 25 years now. so, perhaps it is fitting that i had to sit down and write this considering rachel and my friendship has been virtually documented through writing -- only usually just to one another.

since we were in middle school together we passed each other notes. they were always luxuriously folded in some way resembling origami or one of those paper finger traps. and they always ended the same way – “love you, always and forever, my bestest friend in the whole wide world, forever and ever” – or something like that.

we’d write about the trials and tribulations of becoming a woman, meeting boys and melting down because of them. we’d share secrets and trust that they’d be taken to the grave, along with all of those sheets of 8 and a half by 11 inch lined paper.

there were literally tons of these letters exchanged over our formative years. then – like just about everyone else in this changing world – we gravitated towards the ease of emails. and while each note, handwritten letter or electronically scribed email meant something, the ultimate one came on april 20, 2007.

i’d been living in the yukon at this point for a month. at the beginning of april, in a short and sweet email, rachel mentioned that jeremy had connected with her again and that the two of them were getting together for dinner. 11 days later in an email appropriately titled, “chapter 5 – rachel’s novel”, she expressed how much she knew it was love.

she wrote things like “we knew it was going to be each other in the end”, “happy as pigs in shit” and “loving every minute of our time together.” but the conclusion for me came with the words, “it's amazing, i couldn't ask for a better man in my life. i love him.” i’m not making that up – that is copy and pasted from my old hotmail account.

it’s times like these when you realize why you hold on to thousands of seemingly meaningless correspondence. because one day you’ll have to write a wedding speech for someone in your life that has meant such a monumental amount – that you’ve known since you both wanted to play with the same toy at preschool – and you won’t for the life of you know where to begin without fading off into inside jokes and embarrassing stories.

but back to the point… she couldn’t have asked for a better man...
and from then on there were no questions that needed to be asked. it almost felt like i could anticipate every next move like a proud parent. they moved in together; they bought a house together; they had two beautiful dogs together; they were sharing a life together; they make each other happy, sometimes drive each other a touch crazy and both are ecstatic for all of it.

i came home this past december and within an hour of my landing on ontario soil again, rachel was at my father’s house with her usual intoxicating smile on. but this time was different. as she began to try to muster the words about her good news, it ended up just coming out as something like – “i have something to tell you… um… *insert smile here*...” and then i was pouncing on her yelling that she got engaged. we jumped around like teenagers -- or as I like to refer to it, like old times, the good ol' days.

i’ll admit that without a doubt it has been hard being so far away from it all as the plans took shape, the parties were had and the date drew closer. i’m thankful this incredible woman is organized and we checked the dress shopping off the list when i was around in january. and although i wish i didn’t have to continuously watch rachel blossom into this beautiful woman we see today from afar, it has still been a great pleasure to be along for the ride in phone calls and, of course, adored sentences.

rachel, i love you. this you know. and i love to see you with jeremy and the light and laughter he brings to your life. jeremy, i love you for this. and if you didn’t know that already, you now know. together you’ve been incredible confidants, hilarious dinner companions and top-notch hosts when i stumble back into town.

today there is no place i’d rather be then right here, right now, witnessing this romance. because no matter how many folds, no matter what pen colour used, whether in cursive or printing, paper or electronic – there’s no way we could ever, ever capture this moment in a letter.

congratulations.