A Wedding Speech... for my beloved mother

When my mother first asked me to do a toast at her wedding reception, I thought to myself, “I’ve got to make this the best toast ever written”.  After all, how often does a son really get to do a toast at his own mother’s wedding?  Although some of my cousins with parents that have been married more than once may have a different answer to that question, in my world, it’s not very often…

I thought, “I’ve got to make this epic.  This toast has got to be laden with stories of high-speed car chases, gun fights, heroes and villains, a knight on his valiant white steed and a princess locked in a tower….”

Then I thought… “Who am I kidding?  This isn’t even close to the true story of George and Jo (or “Mom” as only my sister and I are so privileged to call her).  Their story is much more like a romantic comedy—you know—the kind senior citizens go to see at eleven o’clock in the morning on a Thursday and use their AARP cards to get half-off their tickets and free popcorn.   

So I nixed the explosions, the wrong-way down the highway car chase, the cops and robbers, etc. and decided to go with something more practical.  I kept the handsome, courageous knight (played by George, of course), but I replaced the white steed with a gold Subaru Forrester.  I also kept the damsel in distress (a.k.a. my mother) but instead of having her locked in a tower, she plays the role of a paralegal locked in the 9 to 5 grind, commuting in and out of Boston every day.

So our knight and princess just so happen to share an interest in politics and cross one another’s path in an effort to sway the local favor in the direction of one Mr. John Stronger.  They work day and night on a grueling campaign strategy and find one another to be smart and driven, ambitious and caring, honest and strong-willed.  Oh, and their movie-star looks were not lost on one another, either.

Long after the campaign, our knight and princess would once again find their paths crossing on a train out of Natick bound each weekday for Boston.  It’s on this train that our main characters would speak of many things: politics, of course, but also life, love, their amazing children, good times, bad times, etc. etc. etc.  I like to think that the last morning that they each got on the train, something very strange happened… they were the only ones on it.  And the train had a different destination this time.  Instead of being bound for Boston, it chugged right on towards sunset.  And as the credits start to roll, we see the golden sunshine gleaming off of the train windows and the silhouette of our knight putting his arm around our princess with assurances of a life that will be lived happily ever after.

 

 

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."

   

                                                                               --A.A. Milne