Are you ready for a wedding?!
This past Saturday I had the honor and privilege of being the head Referend at my dear Friends Mike and Loretta McCracken's wedding ceremony. Please take a look at the hockey/geek wedding ceremony I came up with.
Friends, family, Countrymen… lend me your ears; (Corn toss).
Four score and some odd years ago;
Ask not what this marriage can do for you;
Marriage, the final frontier;
Are you ready for a wedding!!!
We are gathered here today to witness and encourage the marriage of Mike and Loretta.
Marriage is perhaps the greatest and most challenging adventure of human relationships. No ceremony or law can create a marriage; they can only recognize one. Marriage is a bond that Mike and Loretta create together; through mindfulness and patience; through constant dedication; through helping and believing in each other; through talking and listening; and very simply through their mutual love for one another.
They will be tested like all great couples in history; Sid and Nancy; The Doctor and Leela; Han and Chewie-- I mean Leia! (Boos) Come on, I think we all know Loretta is Han Solo no matter what simile I use. (Cheers)
What I do know is that sometimes even they will get boarded, sometimes a hard shot will rattle off their pads, sometimes life will just stuff one right down their five hole.
This union, this marriage; is not about how many shots they take on goal; it’s not about how many times they save the earth from a time trotting alien invasion; it’s about teamwork; it’s about leaving notes for each other. It’s about finishing each other’s... (page-turn)
…Sandwiches. Pause. This union is about shared passions and loves, and frankly it’s about how these two play together, and I think we all know that Mike and Loretta play very, very, very-VERY, very well together.
From their first meeting it was obvious this couple was destined to wear the same jersey. It was in a local dive bar when Loretta noticed something peculiar about Mike, it was a very small detail overlooked by most, and in this case led to something spectacular.
Loretta asked him, (LORRETTA READS →) “Is that a 2000ish Phoenix Coyotes CCM jersey you're wearing?”In that calm reassuring voice of his, I think we can all hear Mike’s reply, (MIKE READS →) “Why yes, yes it is.”
Their conversation at this time may have been brief, just some twenty year old obscure Hockey banter. But then as quickly and as casually as it started, Mike, the man of mystery that he is, disappeared into the crowd to go do “something”.
A few moments later, he appeared on stage with his band, drumming out a trippy, hard-rocking version of the classic Dr. Who theme. Seriously? (Look at Mike and Loretta) Seriously?
Have you ever heard a more perfect first meeting? It’s as if these two were forged by lightning in a mad scientist’s lab. They are literally made for each other.
Anyway from that moment this couple stole each other’s hearts despite Mike being a fan of a team other than the Flyers. (Go Flyers!) And that my friends, is an incredible, incredible feat indeed.
The rest as they say is history; a first date; hanging out together for no specific reason; dinners that linger long after the meal is over; staying up late talking about everything and anything. I’m sure a few other things happened as well; and then here we are today; the big day.
This is it, the night of nights. No more rehearsing and nursing apart. Overture. Curtain Lights. This is it. They’ll hit the heights. And oh what heights they’ll hit. On with the show this is it.
