Matron of honor speech − 27 June, 2007

Well, I can finally say, at the ripe old age of 25, that I’m beginning to understand those aunts and uncles who would pinch your cheeks when they came to visit and the grandparents who’d continually exclaim, “My, how much you’ve grown!”

Because as I sat there this afternoon, listening to Amanda and Chad declare their everlasting love to each other, I found myself going through a whirlwind of memories: Amanda giggling nervously at her first junior high school dance, her dad teaching her, quite patiently, how to drive, the first time she met Chad (and how long it took her to get ready for their first date).

I remember that camping trip to Kentucky and singing Shania Twain at the top of our lungs. There’s Terry, making jokes as he cooked twice-baked cheese chicken in the oven, and her mom, doubling over in laughter one moment and warning us to be careful driving the next. I can see Amanda and Chad, flirting across the aisles at Jewel-Osco, and now I’ve seen them walking down the aisle of a church.

I’m sure you all have gone through your own movie of memories today, as Amanda and Chad have grown up in all of our lives. So, it is my wish, that one day, many years from now, I hope as they sit there in a pew, just as their parents and we all did today, they will look back at their lives – through the laughter of children and the delight of babies, through the homes they’ll share and the hardships they’ll face, through the millions and millions of kisses and the comfort of each other’s arms year after year … as they look back through their lives to this day, to this very moment, they will know how we now feel and they will know what unites it all: the love we share.

Congratulations, you two – I love you both.