My baby Brother got married last Saturday. He asked me to be his Best
Woman. What a trip! I did not have to wear a Tux, nor organise his
Bucks Night Party (thanks to the Man of Honour), but I did have to say a
speech, which I want to share below....
Hi Everyone!
I
don't know how many Best Women there have been, but I am very grateful
and proud that Charles asked me to stand with him today on his very
special day.
I have been thinking a lot the last couple of days of
what I wanted to share tonight. Shall I go all serious, but I figured
that I am unmarried, and do not have the right nor the experience to be
giving marital advise. Shall I go all silly and funny and share what
happens to Charles when Tequila shares a night with him - Just ask the
Man of Honour Joe, who organised the Bucks Party what really happened!
However, I figured that this is my only chance to share with you just
how special Charles is to me...so I figured Nice, I will keep this Nice.
My
brother and I have always been close, despite the distance between us. I
think that growing up with just one sibling, you either end up being
really close or not. I am lucky that ours in on the better end.
There
is a 4 and a half year gap between us. Growing up, we definitely felt
the gap. We drove each other crazy. Our favourite past time was to
fight, whether he gets to watch Inspector Gadget or I get to watch
Neighbours. We would fight continuously until someone would start
crying. With typical siblings, usually the non crier wins and gets to
watch the their tv show. However with us, one person crying usually
leads to the other person crying too...until we would both be bawling,
no longer caring about which tv show to watch. Instead, trying to work
out why we make each other cry in the first place, when we hate seeing
each other upset.
Charles might be 6ft tall and 6ft wide, but he
is definitely a sensitive, new age man - or a cry baby. Did you see how
his eyes teared up when he saw his bride coming down the aisle this
afternoon?
Charles has always been the nicer child. His friendly
face, easy demeanour and helpful attitude always won him friends. My
Chef at work in DC continues to ask about him, even exchanging emails,
despite having met only a couple of times.
Growing up, I always
admired Charles' business minded skills. He was selling our mother's
home made spring rolls to his school mates as early as 7 years old, and
getting the whole family to do a newspaper delivery around our area on
weekends - making it a family affair, with him pocketing all the money!
Today,
Charles and I are the best of friends. He has always been my travel
buddy, starting from our first trip without Mum and Dad to Jakarta, when
we were both very young to our last trip to Tijuana last year. He is
my sports coach - being tennis and golf buddies, as well as buddies on
the slopes - We tried to snowboard together my first Blue run mountain,
where he continuously made me believe that I was good enough until I had
to take the lift all by myself to get down as the snow patrol told us
our tandem was failing miserably. He is my gimik buddy - with all my
friends quickly becoming his friends. He is my shopping buddy - outlets
always have to be a part of our itinerary wherever we go - Bambi, you
definitely got yourself a bargain hunter here. He is my eating buddy -
then always telling each other that we need to diet. He is my rock and
my confidante. He continues to be my voice of reason. Oftentimes, I feel
that he is older than me, wise with his thoughts and positive with his
energy. His maturity and smartness amazes me. It's funny. I need to
learn the hard way. He learns the easy way..Yet end result, here he is
with a lovely wife, a beautiful daughter and nothing else to ask for.
I
have been privy to the Charles and Bambi relationship. I have seen them
during the time in their relationship when they could not get enough of
each other - circa Mid 1990's Fat willys days - and I have seen them
during their difficult moments too, when I would continuously wonder
whether they really should be together or not.
I am so happy and
proud that they have finally found a place in their relationship where
they have both realised what each other's worth is.
Bambi, Thank
you so much for your patience with Charlie and your patience with me. I
know that our relationship has been a rollercoaster ride. I look forward
to becoming better friends and better siblings. Thank you for loving my
brother a lot. I know that you are going to take care of him to the
best of your ability. Keep making him laugh and keep taking on new
adventures with him. Best of luck with his kakulitan. Take it with a
grain of salt and remember that it is part of his charm.
Charlie, I
am sooooo happy to see you soooo happy. I see it in your face and in
your actions.
Becoming a Dad to Isabel and a husband to Bambi was
certainly unexpected but I have never seen pure joy in your face. It is
almost as if I am seeing you find home. You are exactly where you are
suppose to be.
Guys, watching your relationship unfold is truly a
testament that God has a plan for each of us, much much better than what
we could hope for or expect.I hope that you will remember that despite
the unconventional path that you have taken, what you have is truly a
gift from God. Treasure it and make the most out of it.
May your love for each other grow stronger each day.
May the best days of your past be the worst days of your future.
Take care of each other.
I love you both and congratulations.
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