Here’s to My Best Friend…A Sister’s Toast

This past week my family and I spent the week on the west coast.  Our niece, Karissa, and her fiance John, were married in Visalia, California on Saturday, July 20th…Congratulations!  We enjoyed the nostalgic stops along Route 66 (from Amarillo, TX to Barstow, CA) as well as the majesty of the Grand Canyon.  Our ten day trip concluded as we stopped at the Palo Duro Canyon to enjoy T*E*X*A*S.  An excellent, cross-country family trip we enjoyed together across this great nation.  But my personal highlight was the reason for the trip… John & Karissa’s wedding day.

Our oldest son was honored to serve as one of John’s groomsmen, and our youngest was an usher.  And though those two were excited to share in this day with their cousin, during the reception Karissa’s only sister summed up the day.  After 22 years, Tiffany offered a toast to her ‘best friend’ and life-long companion.  This ‘speech’ is a great example of how you honor your family & friend.  Congratulations Karissa and thank you, Tiffany!

“My name is Tiffini, and I’m Karissa’s older, and only sister. About a year ago I realized I would be making this speech and when John proposed to Karissa I knew what I had to do. I told her I better start thinking about which happy and touching moments to reflect on while I’m up here. Without a pause she turned to me and said, “Tiffini, I’m going to be emotional and will probably be crying on and off during the day, so during your few minutes of giving a speech, you better make me laugh.” No pressure, right?

 

So I started to think what would make you laugh. Most of our jokes are inside jokes, so no one here would get it when I quote a random line from a movie or song. They wouldn’t get it if I talked about something funny we made up after sitting in a car together for three or more days straight during one of our many family vacations, or something hilarious we made up when making fun of one of our late night movies. You might laugh and some people might find it funny if I relayed one of our many silly and impromptu adventures, like the time I pretended to rob you at the bank and it just so happened that your co-worker saw the whole incident and when you went in to work the next day she asked if you were okay. But stories like that take too long.

And then I finally realized what I’d do. I’d quote you. For those who don’t know, Karissa wrote a special card to each of her bridesmaids and gave them to us a couple of days ago. When I opened mine it said, “We have way too many jokes for me to write down…” And I got to thinking, we have 22 years of jokes and memories that I can’t fit into a less than five minute speech. And the reason for this is even better explained in Karissa’s last line in the card she gave me. She wrote, “I love you a ton, not because we’re sisters, but we’re also best friends.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. I’ve heard a lot of people tell us over the years that we act more like friends than sisters and that we get along very well for being siblings. I will always remember the first time we were given the title of best friend-sisters. I’ve always considered Karissa the best friend I’ve ever had. So of course her card touched me and I wanted to say thank you to my sister for the loving words she wrote, but before I could say this she quietly said to me, “I wrote all of those bridesmaids cards really late at night and yours was the last one. I have no idea what I wrote to you.”

That’s okay. It’s her wedding day, so I’ll forgive her for that one. But hopefully I got you to laugh a little bit.

I haven’t left you out John.  I’ve been hearing about John a lot from my sister the last few years, but it hasn’t been until this last month or so that I’ve really gotten to know him. This last memory is for you.

If you don’t already know, my family loves Disney, especially Disneyland.  (I told you two I’d fit Disneyland into this). If we ever go on vacation, it’s to Disneyland, dubbed “THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!” I’ve noticed over the past 22 years that Karissa tends to hold in her excitement about things.  But when we are in the car, on the way to Disneyland, Karissa will be singing every verse of ‘It’s a Small World’ in each language; (which I still can’t figure out how she learned to do that).  I guess she just can’t help it.  She’ll start to sway back and forth, fidget in her seat, and almost bounce around when we see that sign that says Disneyland. She can’t contain herself. It’s rare to see her get that excited about something.

So I found it interesting last summer when we took a family trip to Arkansas to visit John and his family, and we had just arrived to John’s hometown, and we were at the hotel room (of course Karissa and I always had to share a room or a bed when traveling… the stories I could tell you). I was trying to watch TV and I see Karissa pacing back and forth next to the door, bouncing up and down, kinda holding her breath like she’s waiting for something. Up until this point the only thing that’s ever made her this crazy is Disneyland, so I ask her what she’s doing. And she says, “I haven’t seen him since our school year ended. John’s almost here.”

It was when she said this that I realized Disneyland was no longer the happiest place on earth for Karissa. The happiest place on earth for her is wherever John is. So John, if you’re doing better than Disneyland, I think you’re doing pretty alright.

So here’s to John and Karissa:

“May your marriage be a long, loving, and happy one. You both will forever be in my heart and I love you both. And may your home always be blessed and open for me to crash in for random movie nights.”