A Wedding Speech for My Best Friends:
Love is strange.
It’s layered like onions, yes.
Makes you cry, too.
Beautiful.
Complicated.
And so endlessly layered in its nuance.
But also, somehow, the most straightforward thing in the world?
It doesn’t need a song or wordy metaphor.
You just know it when you see it.
Feel it when you breathe it.
So, when you’re asked to write a speech for your best friend and her fiancé (someone who has become part of your own decided family), you want to get it right.
When I sat down to write this thingy, the first thing that came to mind wasn’t all the inside jokes or grandiose gestures Carly’s fiancé, Billy, did to marry her ass.
It was their dog.
Luna.
And the way they love her.
The way she looks at them.
And I thought, maybe that’s the clearest way to understand love.
Through a pair of eyes that don’t blink at the bullshit.
That give everything, and expect nothing.
That don’t keep score.
Dog eyes don’t lie.
They have no reason to.
So I stopped writing a speech.
And wrote this instead…
THE INTRO:
📍Yellowstone, Montana
A Letter From Luna:
HI mom and dad,
It’s me, chicken.
You found me on Runyon 5 years ago on June 9th. The morning of mom’s 25th birthday.
Mom was on a hike with her best friends and I was there alone, just laying beside a tree hoping to disappear into the dirt.
It was so hot that day and I was so thirsty.
My owners left me there with my legs and hips in shambles. I had been there for a few nights.
I was hungry. My body was failing and no one was coming back for me.
I was so scared.
You guys scooped me up and took me to the vet where they stuck things in my ears, scanned a chip in my belly, and made some calls to find me my home.
No one answered.
So mom did.
Without any hesitation.
You brought me home to a house on Sycamore Avenue in West Hollywood that smelled like sweaty boys and stale beer.
There were like 27 people in there!
Everyone passed me around like a baby. Fed me hibachi chicken. Gave me a blanket. And welcomed me home.
I know it was mom’s birthday but she didn’t mind giving me the spotlight.
That was the first time I understood what it was like to be chosen.
That’s when my life forever changed.
Dad, you had no idea what you were signing up for.
New girlfriend.
Global pandemic.
A pit bull with a broken ACL and trust issues.
But you were in.
All in.
Because you loved mom and mom loved me.
And just like that, we became a unit. A pack. A family.
They say dogs don’t understand love the way people do.
But I’ve felt their hands carry me when I couldn’t walk because my paws burned on the ground.
I’ve felt mom wrap herself around me like a second skin at night when I was scared because the fireworks were so loud.
I’ve seen dad drive across state lines for days just to keep us whole.
How they take me to the hospital each time I accidentally swallow a toy because I get too excited and they never get mad.
And wrap me in sweaters when I’m cold.
And forgive me when I made a mess at home.
And so I know.
I know the love they have for each other because I am made from it.
From a mom who bakes challah for strangers just to remind them someone cares.
From a dad who brings aunt becky chocolate cake on valentines day because she just got dumped and was home all alone.
From parents who create a home with good wine and yummy food that each friend comes to when they need a big hug and a good cry.
I remember when dad moved aunt becky out of her apartment because of the creepy landlord and mom gave her her bed and her car because she had no where to go.
I notice how dad pauses mid sentence to laugh at the way mom scrunches her nose and widens her mouth to giggle when she says something totally weird.
I’ve watched them be messy and fight and come back together stronger than before.
But more than that, I learned that love is not something you fall into.
It’s something you choose every single day.
Like you chose me.
And love me.
For just being here.
For being Luna, breathing air.
Not for what needs fixing but for what already is.
And I think… if this is what they give to an old dog like me… the love they give each other must be beyond my ability to name.
Bigger than mountains.
Softer than beds.
Yummier than all the treats in the world.
What our pack has is stronger than anything that tried to break us.
I don’t know what this whole marriage thing is but Aunt Becky says it lasts a lifetime. And if that’s the case, I think we’re good.
Because…
1. I already thought that’s what we were doing.
And
2: you love like no one else I’ve ever known.
So whatever comes in this new chapter full of unknowns and chaos, I know you will treat it like you treat life with me - like an adventure.
From walking graduation at Pacifica in my very own cap and gown, to wearing mom’s marathon metals in Oregon.
From Shutters to Yellowstone,
And getting my very own self portrait at home…
You have forever changed me in ways I cannot explain.
Because you gave me a chance.
You gave me a life.
But more than that, you gave me a front-row seat to the purest thing I’ve ever seen.
Two people who love each other so completely, so fiercely, that even a scared little dog like me learned to trust the world again.
So now when we walk Runyon… I’m not afraid.
Because I have you and I know I am loved and that I look very cute in my harness.
I still don’t know if I’m a chicken or a piggy or a tuna or a bug.
But the one thing I do know is that this is where I belong.
In the backseat of your car though I prefer the front, on mom’s lap sitting like a baked potato with a budda belly, in the booth next to dad in our overalls at Maxwells for breakfast.
And even on the days I don’t feel so well, I am at peace. Because I have you. And you have each other.
I couldn’t have said it better myself, Luna…
To witness the love and loyalty that you two carry for your pack, family, and friend’s is the rarest thing of all.
From Luna’s eyes to mine: I can confidently say, it has been the most beautiful privilege to watch my person to fall in love with hers.
How lucky are we?
Love,
Your forever girls Luna and Aunt Becky
😭😭😭
Dammit, this makes me cry every time!