Home: A Reading For My Friends' Wedding
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One of my very best friends got married to the woman of his dreams last weekend. She also happens to be the woman of my dreams because I've never seen my friend happier being unabashedly who he is, and that makes me happy because he is truly one of the all-around greatest people I've ever known.
When he was first engaged, my friend asked me to stand up with him, and to do a reading. Of course, I said yes to both. And then a few months ago, he asked if I could also write the reading. It wasn't without a good deal of fear and self-doubt that I said yes. I wanted to do this for my friend, but I was afraid of the responsibility.
Ultimately, after thinking about my friend and his lovely bride (and all the ones that came before her that were not fit to be his bride) and their situation (oh, did I forget to mention that they are moving several hundred miles away for his residency just weeks after the wedding?), I settled on a theme: home as a person instead of a place. And the rest came pretty easily.
So here it is:
Home
Home is where you want to be at the end of a long day.
It’s where you take off your makeup and let your guard down.
It’s where you sleep best and eat like no one is watching.
Home is where you prepare yourself for the day ahead.
It’s where you press snooze and give yourself a pep talk to get out of bed.
It’s where you get dressed and put on your shoes.
Home is where you are most comfortable.
It’s where you go to to ugly cry when things go wrong.
It’s where you can be completely and wholly yourself, no matter the extent of your weirdness.
Most often, home is thought of as a particular place - the city you grew up in, the apartment you’re renting, the house you signed 800 papers to call your own. But home doesn’t have to be any particular place. It can be any place at all if you’re with the right person.
The person you most want to see at the end of a long day.
The person who thinks you’re beautiful without makeup and helps you lower your guard.
The person you lie next to when you get your best sleep and share the TV with while you eat like no one is watching.
The person who helps you prepare yourself for the day ahead.
The person who reminds you that you already pressed snooze twice and is worth getting out of bed for.
The person who isn’t afraid to say, “Maybe not that tie,” and helps you find your other shoe.
The person who makes you most comfortable.
The person who loves you no matter how ugly your ugly cry is.
The person who likes when you are completely and wholly yourself, not despite your weirdness, but because of it.
The beautiful thing about finding that person is that it doesn’t matter where you go, as long as you are together, you will always be home. I am so happy that you have both found your home. May you never ever want to move.
This post is dedicated with love to the new Dr. and Mrs. Nicholas and Bronwen Mischel.
