This and That

As if watching my daughter get married last Saturday wasn’t emotional enough, I then had to give the first of three toasts at the reception.  Luckily, Clare had provided the perfect opening line when she first informed me of this responsibility:  “Remember, Dad, it’s a toast, not a roast.”  I turned it into a little of both.

This gave me the chance to call out the child who dialed 9-1-1 at Grandma’s (never suspecting they’d call back and I’d pick up the phone) and who dented the PT Cruiser on the way to softball practice in high school (and who finally confessed to the crime six years after the fact).  It also allowed me to note that Clare’s wedding day fell on the ninth anniversary of the travel tournament where she hit five homeruns in two days.

With all that said, I was then ready to wish my daughter and son-in-law a love that would accompany them from here to eternity.  After the applause—polite or sincere, I couldn’t say—died down, I performed one last fatherly duty by telling Clare not to swing at anything in her eyes.  Better late than never, I say.