Being a mother has been full of wonderful surprises and so much growth. I've learned so much about so much. I have 3 terrific children, all very different, all very loved.
In the past six months, two of my three children have married. My oldest daughter, Ann, married in October 2008, and my youngest daughter, Beth, in April 2009. It's a momentous thing for them and for this mother, whose heart was full of emotion. I was honored that I was asked, along with their father, to make a toast, to share a bit about them. Here, then, are the toasts I made:
First, for my daughter, Ann, and her new husband:
So many of us have traveled a good distance to be here today. I know how much it means to Ann and Gabriel, and it means a lot to me that you are here. Thank you so much.
Ann was my first child, my first daughter. From the get go she was a very inquisitive child and into everything. And she was very creative. She looked at things as they were but saw other possibilities. She is an innovative thinker, who often simultaneously displays enormous independence and a childlike need for connection. I love her fiercely.
That said, Gabriel, I feel you should know that as a little girl, Ann liked to make murals with crayons, and drew on walls and doors a lot! But being creative, she was able to improvise when crayons weren’t available. She spent one short nap time coloring with her cherry flavored chapstick on her bedroom screens, and filled in all the outlet screws, and another naptime shampooing her baby brother’s head with Vaseline. You’ll want to keep a scrub brush handy, and, well, for the Vaseline, I’m not sure what advice to give you.
She can be disorganized at times, and extremely organized at others. Take a look around you to see how well she can organize an event! But in high school and college she was notorious for leaving the home to go somewhere only to return minutes later for something she forgot, which earned her my favorite nickname: “Ann-who-leaves-twice”.
When Ann first met Gabriel, she called me to tell me about this really great guy who was smart, and handsome and driven. Living so far away as she did in D.C., I didn’t have a chance to meet him as soon as I would have liked. I was, however, in the peculiar situation of being able to see him on a reality TV show, Rebel Billionaire. Not given to watching TV on that night, you can be certain that I missed no episodes, hoping to get some insight into this young man to whom my daughter had taken a fancy. So if the challenges of the TV show were as effortless for Gabriel as they appeared, he was also being evaluated by Ann’s family long distance-style, which could have been more formidable. (You may be interested to know that Gabriel is listed in Wikipedia for this distinction.) Gabriel seemed cool and calm and level headed, on the show, and it hardly did him justice. When he visited our family at Christmas 2006, he was warm and kind and bright. After that, I only cared that Ann truly loved him. And love him she does!
This toast is to Ann and Gabriel. May the vows you spoke today guide you in the future. May you have many years together and many children, and may you love them even half as much as I have loved mine. As I love you!
photo by Tamara Lackey
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For my daughter, Beth, and her new husband:
We’re delighted to see so many here today to celebrate with Beth and Kevin. Clearly, they have a wonderful network of friends and family to support them as they begin their life as a married couple! Your presence here is not unimportant, for a network of friends and family is what we all need.
Beth and Kevin were initially friends at St. Thomas, where they were involved in some of the same ministries and worked side by side to encourage other college-aged adults to understand and grow in their Catholic faith. Their romance did not come until they had established a sound friendship. What a great formula for success!
There are some things Kevin should know about his new bride:
Beth is my youngest daughter, and will always be my baby. But she was never a shrinking violet, never overshadowed by her older brother and sister. And that is saying a lot, because they are all outgoing, all active, all creative! But inside, she is a sensitive creature who may cry at sad movies, the bleat of a baby goat, and those little disappointments that we experience each day. She is to be handled with care.
Beth has God-given qualities that her father and I had nothing to do with. She was born strong-willed and secure in herself. She was born confident and brave and undaunted by adventure. She was born with an aptitude for science and math. And she was born with a tremendous wit. While we exposed her to our values, she adopted and made her faith her own. She has learned to be giving and kind and to put others before herself. These attributes guided her when she left for Turkey to do evangelism the summer before her senior year in college, and later to spend 9 months in Calcutta, India working with the Sisters of Charity, the order Mother Theresa founded, in an orphanage with needy children. Beth does not shrink from a challenge, and when she makes a decision, she is not easily dissuaded.
I knew early on she would be a handful. She was intent on keeping up with her older siblings and consequently learned to climb out of her crib when she had only just learned to stand. She walked when she was 10 months old. She read people well and would play tricks on us just to tease us. I still remember her standing at the top of the stairs when she could barely walk and she jumped up and down, looking at me to see my reaction. As a little girl, her confidence and bravery sometimes pushed her older siblings to meet their goals. She would have been the first to jump off the high dive, but her resolve was just enough to give the last bit of needed courage to her siblings to jump just before her! She was unafraid of almost anything. The three together made a great team. Ann would mastermind a plan, and knew how to use a phone. Greg was strong and ready for anything that sounded fun or required a masculine effort. But Beth was the one they would send downstairs to investigate a scary noise. They were the three Musketeers, into everything and making everything fun.
We spend a lot of time when they are young teaching our children everything from how to button a shirt, how to think for themselves, and how to treat others. And along the way they teach us over and over again about who we are and how we can be better individuals. I believe we are in this journey together, that these souls, who were entrusted to us, are also meant to lead us at times. There is no accident that I have been graced with the children I have. It is all part of His perfect plan.
As a mother, the most basic thing I want for my children is that they be happy. But the secret to happiness is knowing where to find it. It’s not in the things we acquire, or the accolades of others, although those are nice. It’s not in external appearances or in doing everything right, for we will certainly make many mistakes and fail often. We find happiness in our humble connections with others. Successful people know that happiness comes when we put others first.
We are here today to celebrate love. Kevin’s love for Beth, and Beth’s love for Kevin. Central to this, is the Father’s love for each of us. Our love is imperfect and the fact that we get it right sometimes is a miracle of a certain kind. But when we fail each other, and forgive each other, as husbands and wives must do daily, it illustrates how deeply we are loved. All by the grace of God, whether acknowledged or not.
We've heard a lot today about Polish traditions. We are Irish, and in honor of our ancestry, an Irish toast:
Please raise your glasses and your hearts:
May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
