Here’s something I should have said:
Many of us here came to know
Kevin and
Christine through a website called E2. Because writing is a major part of the E2 experience, it is perhaps natural that many of us feel more at home with the written word than the spoken word. Nevertheless, none of us would want to let this moment pass without giving voice to our feelings and hopes and prayers for Kevin and Christine.
Christine, I hope you will forgive me for talking about Kevin for a moment.
Kevin, you once told me that you were surprised at how people have wanted to give so much of their time and skills to make this ceremony so enjoyable. I doubt that any one of us, your friends, is at all surprised. You are the most loved of people. You are a real man in every sense of the word. You are a rock when people need support. You are a shoulder when they need to cry. You will
give a hug when it is needed, You will tease and laugh when people take themselves too seriously.
You are one of those rare men who is at home with his body and his emotions. There are few men prepared to be so physical and demonstrative as you, and few who so readily show their emotions through tears and laughter. You have made friends with old men, young men, young women and older women. You have the gift of making every one of your friends feel special. You make the effort to call and talk when lesser men might stand by and let friendship take second place to the minutiae of daily life.
I think I speak for many of here when I say that it has been a real privilege to know you and to witness this beautiful ceremony and enjoy your company once more.
Christine. Many of us are meeting you today for the first time in the flesh. But we already know you through photographs and, above all, your words. Your spirit shines through in your writing. You told us about your
bionic knees on the Appalachian trail. You told us how you have been taken by a
storm of emotions. How life has changed for you. And we wept with joy as we read it.
Despite some hectic times; despite jet lag, despite all the responsibilities of being a mother to Tessie, you are here and you are radiant. We have all been delighted to find that you are just as beautiful in person as you are in spirit.
The love and joy and sense of fun that radiates from you tells us that Kevin has made the best of choices. And if we needed anything to confirm it, we just have to look at you. The two of you, when you are together look as if you were made for each other and have known it since time began.
It is rare in this world to see two such wonderful people so much in love. Sometimes we see teenagers who say they are in love, but yours is not this simple love. You have both known pain; you have both known joy. Today we see how respect and friendship and joy come together to make love.
The poets say "The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings." You both are blessed with the love to give and you give it to each other and let it take flight to your friends.
So let me finally propose a toast to Kevin and Christine, and to Tessie with the very best of wishes from all of us. We hope your union, celebrated here today, will be full of the best kind of love, physical love; emotional love and that you each give wings to your love for each other and for your friends. We hope for the best of health, the best of life and the best of futures to the three of you, for as long as you all shall live.
This was written by wrinkly, but he says it was written for wertperch and grundoon and for everyone who attended the handfasting. It sums up how many of us felt.