Best Man

I know it's mid-July, but I feel like summer is just starting for me. I am completely recovered from my surgery, summer school teaching is over, and I'm finished with sprawling philosophical epic literature (more on that in my next post). Completely unburdened, I'm ready to begin my relaxing. In celebration, I had this giant party. There were about 200 people there!

Okay, it wasn't actually a "Steve's Belated Summer Start" party. It was actually the wedding of two great people: my brother Pete and his now-wife Kaylen. It was an exhaustingly great time this past weekend, filled with friends from out of town, open bars, and party buses. Rather than recount everything that happened throughout the weekend, I'm just going to publish my best man speech here (to the best of my memory):

"How I first met Pete was a funny story. You see, we were womb-mates *uproarious applause, obviously*. Seriously, I grew up with Pete, quite literally. In our little childhood two-man communism, we shared everything: toys, rooms, Christmas presents, memories. Everything. Now that childhood is over, I couldn't be more proud of the way Pete's adulthood is going so far, especially since he's found Kaylen.

While the wedding ceremony was beautiful, I almost feel like it was a bit redundant. It only made legal what we in the Wissinger family have already felt for years: that Kaylen is a part of the family. She fit right in immediately with the first visit to Cairo. We're glad to have you sharing our name. As people have already mentioned today, Pete and Kaylen are perfect for each other. Anyone who's spent even five minutes with them has to think, "Yeah, they make sense together." The two of them complement each other in every way.

I started the speech talking about our childhood. Pete and I grew up on a pretty strict diet of comic books and science fiction movies. In our minds, adulthood must have looked like a strange amalgamation of space travel, crime fighting, and narrowly escaping giant rolling boulders. While life may not be quite so bizarre, there's still adventure to be found in the world, and, Pete and Kaylen, you are so lucky to have each other to share that journey. A toast to Pete and Kalyen Wissinger, the new dynamic duo!"

It pretty much sums up my feelings on the new addition to the family. More writing about books soon.