
I never understood people who cry at weddings. Why the hell would anyone cry at a lot of boring mumbo-jumbo that's just all the same as any other wedding in any other church any day of the week? So, look, you have a bride. You have a groom. You say "I do," bada-bing, bada-bang, boom! You're married! Nothing to get all teary and snotty over. Waste of waterworks, I say.

Yesterday my dear friends Adam and Jessie got married - all dressed up and glowing fit to set the Canadian forests afire.
There is a part of me still in disbelief. When Adam first told me he planned to get married, I believe my first reaction was laughter. I know Jessie is a very, very special lady because she actually
wants to be with Adam for the rest of her life. Adam is an incredibly lucky guy, and pretty smart, too, to rope Jessie in and tie her down so quickly.
Seriously though, Adam and I have been through thick and thin these past several years, from happiness to awkwardness and everything in between - and I have to say, I really believe he is a truly decent, stand-up guy. He has been my savvy business partner in many ventures, and more than that, he has always been a supportive and fiercely loyal friend. He has always been there for me whenever I needed someone to talk to, and he's always been ready to threaten physical harm to people who hurt me. This is the guy who would take a bullet for you ( granted, the person has to be aiming low enough). But even way back when I thought he was some creeper, I thought he was good at heart. I have always believed that one day he would be an excellent boyfriend to some deserving girl - and now, I believe, he will be an excellent husband and partner...maybe even father, god forbid.
And while I do not know Jessie nearly as well, I believe she is one of those very rare people, someone who is truly caring, who is beautiful, inside and out - and the true beauty of it is that she often doesn't know it.
When I actually see the two of them, so happy together, when you actually see someone you care about beginning to embark on this new journey together - it's suddenly a beautiful, almost miraculous thing. That they're making this commitment to each other. That they're starting a new life together. The profundity of it escapes you, I think, until it happens to someone you care about, someone whose life has touched yours in many ways. You have a personal investment in them, an allowance for them in your heart.
What is marriage but many allowances of the heart?
What is marriage? To hold. To love. To cherish. To obey.
I feel like I'm back in fifth grade again, and we have to write the essay - "What does marriage mean to you?"
Marriage is sharing a home and all the housework that comes with it. Marriage is waking up to the same person every morning and not even caring about how godawful their morning breath is. Marriage is the best of times, the worst of times. It is a shaky uncertain future, a path that may become, at times, gruelling and difficult - but a path that you will never have to travel alone. And marriage is a lot of work - but knowing that that work is worth it.
Love is having a groom who can't take the solemnity and seriousness of the wedding ceremony and has the urge to laugh during it, and marriage is being able to have his Best (Wo)Man (aka a MICHICHU) tell him that he sucks and that she would punch him in the balls for laughing, just so that he'll cry appropriately. Love is, I realized,
discovering together that he cannot frown. Love is knowing a person, really knowing a person, and loving them not in spite of - but because of it.
Yesterday, I, too, discovered something strange, something new. There was a lump in my throat and burning in my eyes. I thought I was sick, I thought it was an allergic reaction, maybe, but it was the darndest thing - suddenly, my eyes were wet and I didn't know what to do.
Love is that special something that you have, that something that teaches your cynical friend how to cry at weddings.
So here is to Jessie and Adam, both my beloved friends and a happy couple - I wish you both all the happiness that one can possibly imagine. As we tonight celebrate the beginning of a new year, I'll drink an extra glass of champagne (or two) to celebrate this, the beginning of your new life together.
I suggest that everyone do the same!

Paul Valery said it best: "Love is being stupid together."

Good luck to the both of you, godbless, godspeed, and goodnight.