On This Day
I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now. This is the beautiful speech Deb told at our wedding. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when she was finished!
Good evening everyone and welcome! As the MOB it is my privilege to welcome Brian to our family….which seems a little strange because I’ve thought of him and his family as part of our family for quite a while now! Once we all started choosing to spending holidays together in my books that makes us a family and once we became Facebook friends well that sealed the deal! Never the less, it is my pleasure to officially welcome Brian to our family!!
To Brian’s family I would like to thank you for inviting both Erin & I into your family! Karen, Dave and their family made me feel welcome from the first time I met them! Whether we are discussing one of the many versions of Brerin’s wedding plans (and there have been many, many versions), world events, home improvements & the cool tools we can justify buying to complete them, we have laughed and enjoyed each others company, thank you again for including us in your family!
And now I would like to talk a little bit about the circumstances that cause me to be standing in front of you today…I apologize in advance if I switch to just reading this, but throughout the writing process I couldn’t create a version that said what I need to say and didn’t make me cry…but I will try to push through it!
When Erin was 10 years old, our family was faced with a terrible truth, my only sister, Erin & Jason’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer…at the beginning there was hope as she took on the challenge of rigorous treatment. It was a difficult journey, my sister and I spent many hours at the Cross Cancer Institute, together we went to every doctor’s appointment, every chemo treatment and then through the horrors of radiation, always with the thought that we were a strong team and we were going to beat this terrible disease! During all those hours together we had many, conversations sharing things that only sisters can…we found solace in each others strength and it was amazing. We wiled away the hours talking about the triumphs we had enjoyed and the failures we had suffered in our lives and how, given the opportunity, the changes we would make if only we could go back in time! It was a cool fall day in 1994 as my sister & I sat listening to the prognosis that neither of us wanted to believe and wanted even less to hear spoken out loud. My sister, Erin & Jason mother was not destined to be a cancer survivor. Through the hugs and tears we made out pact…that I would take her place and serve as replacement mom to her baby girl, provide Erin a good home, an education but above all else love her, keep her safe and make her happy!
And so our newly created family sets off…the road we traveled was sometimes difficult, but we persevered and somehow we survived! I am happy to say that today my relationship with Erin is stronger than it has ever been. I believe that all of our life experiences help shape us into the people we are destined to become, so even if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change one second of our time together!
So today I fulfill the most important promise I have ever made…to see Erin grow up into a fantastic adult!! I know that your mom would be so proud of you Erin because I know that I am more proud of you than words can adequately describe! You are the best, I love you with all my heart and it has been an incredible honour to fulfill my promise and be your 2nd mom…you are not only my family and my number 1 Facebook friend, you are my BFF today and forever!!
Thank you!
Isn’t that beautiful?! Months later it still makes me smile and cry, in the best way possible!