I must begin, as is often the case, with an apology dear readers. I know I have made brief mention before about my hectic schedule for the month of October. I’m smack dab in the middle of two weddings, one being a very close friend of mine and the other my brother’s. For those that have been through the ordeal, I’m sure you can understand how much work goes into them even if they aren’t your own.

I grabbed these photos off Google image search, as I’m wont to do. These are not mine and that was not my tux.

Consequently, this post is going to be brief. I’ve just returned from being a best man which was a mixed blessing. On one hand, it was a very unique experience. I have never been someone’s best man and it was a very humbling perspective to have. It also came with a fair degree of anxiety and pressure – albeit some of it was self imposed. Primarily, I had to give the best man speech which, I was informed, is often considered to be the highlight for a wedding. Ok, maybe it’s considered the highlight of the reception.

Either way, it was an expectation that I not only perform but also perform above and beyond the competition. For days I agonized over the content of my speech then fretted about the very delivery of it. Despite what people may think, writing does not give you a natural advantage in the public speaking department. Hell, acting doesn’t help much there either. Unlike the stage, when you’re giving a speech people aren’t expecting you to be presenting a persona. You are yourself, standing in front of a crowd of veritable strangers attempting to delight and entertain with the full knowledge that you’re expected to be a memorable presentation.

As I said, I had some worries.

Course, this wasn’t even covering the other duties. Though most of those were focused around sitting people I didn’t know either on the appropriate side. I liken weddings to battles. You have your two armies opposing each other and it’s vitally important that you get both to the field of battle in proper formation. Thankfully, I wasn’t in charge of navigating the turgid waters of familial relations. Which aunt sits where and beside who would have been far too much for me to handle.

So please don’t sue me if you own any of these.

And for the rings, that wasn’t particularly onerous. There was a brief moment, after I was forbidden to touch them once they entered my pocket, that I realized they probably didn’t want the rings presented in their boxes. So I quickly fetched them from their containers while the bride walked down the aisle. But everyone was too focused on her to notice that blunder so I felt pretty safe. During the hand-off I didn’t separate them properly but that’s what you get for not having a rehearsal!

Anyway, back to the speech. Aside from an astonishingly terrible Master of Ceremony performance, I felt the speech went well. I was a lot calmer after the father of the bride and mother of the groom presented. I don’t want to say anything terrible, but especially the father’s speech made me a little more comfortable in my own prepared material. He had mentioned to me earlier how he hated speeches and how people ramble on about how they first met the couple and yadda, yadda, yadda. However, as the bride pointed out, it wasn’t his day. It was theirs. And my speech was specifically geared for them.

It was filled with all the personal touch and inside jokes that make me… well, me. And I’m their friend, not friends to their family. So I basically turned to them as I delivered and though they may have been the only ones laughing at least they were enjoying themselves. And that’s all I really hoped for. All I really aimed for, to be honest. And seeing them happy on their special day was all the thanks that I could have asked for.

So yeah, I had been dreading that day but afterwards I felt better. I felt… something akin to happiness. It was a very nice wedding, all things considered. And the couple appeared quite pleased themselves. At the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.

This also came up in the Google search. Since I love Arrested Development, you get this still.

Now, I promise to have something more substantial and interesting later. I just want to point out that – even though I too am incredibly busy – I still find the time to post for you, dear site. I won’t abandon you or forget. Even if I am a little late…