Joe's Toast
Mike, aside from your parents and one or two other people in this room, I've
known you longer than anyone. And so I thought there were probably a couple
of things that Cheryl should know about you.
[drops the long accordion pack of index cards]
For instance, there were those wild dance parties on hot summer nights...with your dad sitting on the front stoop of the house on Mt. Marie playing the accordion while we and some of the other neighborhood kids ran around the yard...
Or your headbanger days...when you claimed the only way you could fall asleep was to lie on your back with your head on your pillow and do this:
[hums while twisting head vigorously from left to right]
And then there's the trail of broken hearts you've left behind...starting with my sister, to whom you were engaged. Of course, you were 4 and she was 3 at the time, but still...
And more recently, 6 years ago tonight, when I was the one sitting next to the beautiful girl in the white dress, and you were the one giving the toast. That night you told my bride that you wanted to find someone who would look at you the way she looked at me; and that you believed you never would. That broke Beth's heart...
But you were wrong, Mike; because Cheryl looks at you that way. And more importantly, you look at her that way, too. The love that you two share lights up both of your faces every time you look at each other. And there isn't a person in this room who isn't thrilled for the both of you.
So I'd like to propose a toast to Mike and Cheryl: may you have many years together, and may those years be filled with love, happiness, and more of those "looks" than there are stars in the skies.
-Joseph Staudt, 28 September, 2002