Jamie and Andy

 Wedding Speech for Andy and Jamie

Hi everyone, for those that don’t know me I am Lindsey, and for those that do, Hey!

I have been friends with both Andy and Jamie for a long time and in fact, I have held other titles to Andy and Jamie, I am an auntie to their kids, I was Andy’s roommate for a time, and His co-worker, “donna”, Taskmaster, “linds” and corrupter but the one I am most proud of is Surrogate little sister. I know a few of you are probably questioning these titles but I assure you that most of them were well earned.  I want to tell a couple of stories today, but I first want to point out how amazing the two of you and the rest of the bridal party look today. I do have to admit I am impressed that you got Jay out of Fishing garb…. But that is because this is truly a special occasion.

So back to Andy, Andy and I reconnected when it felt like both of our worlds were imploding, rather than letting it, we found refuge in each other… talking, making crude jokes, and playing inappropriate games… we found ourselves paired up and spending a ton of time. This led me to a big move in which Andy told me he would help me move from Peterborough to start a new life in Kingston and help me find a job. Now, anyone looking at this situation would think that there was something more to it, however, Andy and I knew that this was about making our lives go in the direction they needed to. I moved in with Andy as we both started seeing our now significant others, my husband Douglas and your now wife Jamie…. Has a nice ring to it right Andy?

While I was looking for a job, I remember sending Andy my resume for a job in his office to which he replied my resume made him look like a giant turd and that I was a shoo-in for the job. That led me to my second title as “the donna” Andy and I was an amazing team at work and at home where I managed to pull off all of the things…. However, one day at work, both of us got a text that left us perplexed. Him from Jamie, and me from Doug that they … were going to cook us dinner.

So, some background to this story is that Jamie and Doug, many years ago, dated… so when Andy and I received a text that afternoon we discussed whether insurance policies were up to date, if we had named either of them in any legal documents and if we had our affairs in order because there a low but not zero chance we were about to be offed. We came home, to see Doug and Jamie working away in the kitchen and immediately ran to “go get changed” by go get changed we ran upstairs and quickly checked with each other to see if they had slipped anything into the food, jokingly of course. We came downstairs, sat down for dinner as Doug poured the wine for us… we waited for Jamie and Doug to have their first bites and then proceeded to enjoy a lovely dinner. We didn’t tell them the concerns we had until after we had finishing eating but it ended up being one of those stand-out moments that on occasion Andy and I laugh about because we survived.

Unlike the time we did the 5k, right Andy? Andy had signed himself up for a “fun” 5k run to support breast cancer action in Kingston in support of the important people in his life that were battling cancer. Doug and I decided to join him and as we set out on the run Andy quickly realized that one of my skills is aggressively motivating others. We found out, that one of the skills Andy was not strong in, was running. Needless to say, I chased Andy right to the finish with promises of Mojitos, Caesars, and delicious food, even though he had rolled his ankle 2 kilometers in, and much to the chagrin of the other participants in the run we made it. We completed the run and I made good on our promise to which I found out I was a part of a first for Andy as he had never experienced a brojito before.

Through all this time I got to know Jamie better than just in passing. Jamie and I knew each other from many social events but we were always on the periphery of each other. I quickly learned that Jamie was a clever, funny, and crafty person with a big heart and a love of all things teal, Stephen King and the band Korn. I could see how they worked, and it warmed my heart to see them both so happy. Jamie, I have never seen Andy happier in my life. They complement each other and make each other better. I remember when I was pregnant with Sterling Andrew, who was named for Andy, Jamie and Andy were just so excited to be Auntie and Uncle that Auntie Jamie got to work on making multitudes of stuff for the little sea monkey. She knew I loved owls and made bibs and blankets and everything we needed in the cutest owl patterns… some that to this day, the boys refuse to give up. Uncle Andy was the first person besides Doug and me to hold baby Sterling and Auntie Jamie was the second. They are wonderful people and Doug and I count ourselves so incredibly lucky to have them in our lives.

They have gone through their tough times which included how Alex and Linc made their grand debut with so much love and support for each other that it is little wonder that we are here today. I was going to try to leave you with something poignant and profound to talk about marriage, beyond it is what brings us together today, but I feel like I can’t say it better than some of the authors of our time, so I am going to borrow a quote from one of my favorites. Dr. Seuss once wrote: “We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone, whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.” So, here’s to Andy and Jamie. May they live in mutual weirdness forever!