Never Walked In High Heels

Hey friend. It is a rare occurrence that I get tongue-tied, but I managed to do so while making a speech at your reception dinner last week. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about it, and here’s what I wanted to say even though it may have never been clear in the first place.

“Christie has always been my last line of defense. I need a lot of help in life and Christie, along with a handful of others, many of whom are in this room, act as my plan Z. When nothing else works, I call in Christie and the rest of these people to make life bearable again. One thing that bonds Christie and me particularly, is her amazing ability to type. I think it actually came from her having a crush on a boy in high school and insisting that she use AIM nightly to talk to him. Well God works in mysterious ways. The fact is that I can only type about 6 words a minute, so whenever I procrastinated too long on a paper or was overwhelmed with work, Christie would always come by and help my type. Looking back, I don’t think I could have made it through college without her assistance.

The thing is, she and I have a relationship that is based on typing in very strange places. The first time she came to type for me, I was working as a technician backstage at the Davidson Dance Ensemble running the fly rail and completing a history paper at the last minute. She has typed for me in a lighting booth, in a shower stall, lying on my bathroom floor, in Scotland, in Spain, in a car and even when I was in transit between two major continents and could only contact her via Skype.

This morning, we were getting ready for her big day, and with all the rushing around, I found myself plopped on the coach desperately trying to get work done and finish an e-mail, which needed to be sent out within the next hour. Christie and her bridesmaids were working on putting together Christie’s bouquet when all of a sudden I felt my friend come up next to me, “Move over.”

“What?”

“I said, move over!”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve got five minutes before I need to do my hair and put my dress on. Move over. Let me help you type.” It kind of goes against the preconceived notion of what a bride should be like the day before here wedding—to see your best friend meet your needs instead of hers, and act as a assistant while holding a bouquet of pink roses and pearls.

Andrew, I want to say this is an incredible woman you are marrying and I am excited that you got her. I am also excited to get to know you more. Christie, my last line of defense when it absolutely, positively, must be done over night. So Andrew given that you have been kicked out, deported, and barred from Russia, it gives me new confidence in my omega team. All I have to ask is how fast can you type?

I love you both and wish that you may both manage to see God daily throughout your marriage. With love.