my rehearsal dinner speech

Rose Lynn and I have a pretty special friendship. We met on our sorority bid day at Auburn, yet we had no idea how much history we already had. As we were taking in all of the bid day festivities and looking around as nervous freshman at 54 other girls we barely knew, her dad spotted my mom in the crowd gathered in front of Mollie Hollifield Hall. Mr. Mike, Rose's dad, recognized my mom from 20+ years before. He recognized her because some 20 years earlier, my dad was Mr. Mike's high school football coach, long before the thought of either of us had entered anyone's mind. My parents had 3 small kids when my dad was a high school football coach, and Rose's dad never knew I came along because he was a senior in high school the year he played football for my dad. (Can you imagine his surprise when he realized his high school football coach had a daughter the same age as his?!) The rest of the story of our friendship is pretty much history. Rose and I spent spring breaks together, ate 85% of our meals together in college, and drove identical cars at Auburn. Once, she drove me home, 3 hours to Tuscaloosa, so that I wouldn't miss my niece's pajama birthday party. I had stayed up all night the night before finishing a final project, and could barely keep my eyes open to walk, much less drive. We really formed more of a sister bond than a friend bond. I feel like she's as much a part of my family as I am hers. She's visited at least once each year I've been in New York, gotten me through many emotional breakdowns - in New York and in college - and was the best darn Chemistry tutor I've ever had. Meanwhile, I was helplessly watching as she studied endless hours during her time in pharmacy school, and anxiously waiting for her next unbelievable story from the life of a real-life pharmacist. And now...she's married. With a husband.

Oh. My.

And oh my, what a fun weekend the wedding was! I finally have more pictures to share (that aren't from my iphone) that I'll post in the next few days. I thought it was only appropriate to give the full background of how special this girl is to me before I shared the details of her wedding. Plus, this is what I meant to say in my toast to her at her rehearsal dinner. But I was too busy holding back tears to say any of this. Or anything at all, for that matter.