Mother Dearest

       Mother Dearest…This is how the last letter I started writing you began. You never received this letter because I never finished writing it. Something prompted me to write you a letter and tell you how much I appreciated all that you had done for me as I was growing up and into young adulthood. At the time it had probably been 14 years since I’d written you a letter. Looking back now, it’s too obvious that the prompting I received to write that letter was for a better reason than I had originally thought. If I find it I will type as much as I had written and post it here for you. Maybe I’ll even finish it.

       The most recent news I’ll share with you is that Nathaniel and Amanda were married on August 6^th of this year. I was the best man, of course, and there was a decent number in attendance. For a few months leading up to the wedding Nathaniel had been nudging me to write something for the reception. I kept telling him I was just going to wing it…and I was until the night before. I the first time I seriously gave thought to writing a speech was on the 5^th, the day before the wedding, at the dinner after rehearsal. The mother-in-law-to-be had mentioned that Amanda’s sister (the Maid of Honor) had spent some time writing her speech.  

       As I stood at the kitchen sink later that night I thought of some things I wanted to say and decided on a particular way I wanted to say them. I stayed up until after two in the morning writing a three page reception speech. It was difficult to write, emotionally. Since I returned from Iraq in 2005 I have found that my emotions creep up on me more than I would like. I choked my way through the speech and was later told that there were quite a few moist eyes during my speech. It wasn’t all soppy though. I ensured that there was some comedic relief sprinkled throughout the speech to lighten the mood as well as to give myself some emotional relief so I could finish reading it. I’ll post if for you. Reception Speech

       Now, for those of you reading this that are not my mother, I know she is no longer accessing the World Wide Web. However, she knows what is in my heart and can look down upon me at her leisure.