The Best Speech of My Life

"True love is finding the soul's counterpart in another."

To describe how happy I am for my sister and Will, I thought it would be perfect to share the speech I gave yesterday at the wedding reception.

So, here goes (and yes, I cried!!!):

Sarah, I hope you feel like the most beautiful girl the world…

because tonight, you truly are. 

I get goosebumps every time I see the way Will looks at you.

I am so happy for you both. 

I’ve known Sarah her entire life. I’m technically her older sister, but our relationship might prove otherwise. I will stick with 3 main examples that indicate how Sarah truly might be the older sister. So, our parents might have some explaining to do later…

Number One: When we were about 4 and 5 years old, the neighbor girl pushed me down the stairs headfirst. I decided to cry my eyes out – per usual, and Sarah chased the girl the entire way home – screaming at her the whole way. From that moment on, Sarah never wasted a second defending me when someone hurt me or put me down.

Number Two: Growing up, I always turned to Sarah for advice about boys, fashion, and friends. I wanted Sarah’s input on everything.

Number Three: When I was scared at night…usually fearing an alien invasion, evil ghosts, or a random tornado, I would crawl into bed with Sarah. I would wake her up and say, “Sarah – are you afraid? Do you want me to sleep with you?” She would never judge me or tell anyone about my fears, instead she would just scoot over and make room for me in her bed.


Now, I didn’t always appreciate Sarah as my “older sister.” I remember Grandma Kaye once telling us, “You’ll be best friends one day. I promise.”

But we both refused to believe her…we were simply different people.

• We hated sharing a room together.
• We hated sharing our birthday parties together.
• And we hated sharing friends.

But looking back, those were the best days of my life. I’ll never forget:

• Swimming at the city pool all day, even if we had softball games that night
• Skipping school to play barbies together
• Eating pizza and watching SNICK on Saturday nights
• Riding our bikes all around Decatur, even though we told mom we would only go around the block - sorry mom...
• And making ridiculous home movies

So, Grandma, you were right. Sarah is my best friend.

We had a blast growing up …because we had each other.

Sarah, I am so happy that you found someone to defend you when someone puts you down or makes you feel defeated. I can rest easy at night knowing you have someone to climb into bed with when you’re scared. And most importantly, I’m happy that you’ve found a new best friend to make you feel complete. 

Now to Will…

The first time I met Will I had a few drinks in me. That night, Sarah kept talking about this guy she met online. So by nature, I was a little nervous for her. Nothing against Will, but I just watch too much Investigation Discovery and Criminal Minds to be a normal person.

But once we pulled up, I looked over at Will and he looked pretty normal. I patted my sister on the back and said, “You’re good. Have fun.” I ended up meeting back up with Sarah and Will that evening because they picked me up from the bar. Once they walked in, I stood up and yelled, “Everyone here comes my sister and her soulmate, Will!” I just knew…

We spent the entire night:

• Laughing
• Eating chicken, bacon and ranch pizza
• And prank calling my husband, who was not impressed with me that night.

I knew Will would either love me or think I was the craziest person in the world. Maybe both. But I honestly couldn’t pick out a better man for Sarah. As Justin said earlier during the wedding ceremony, I haven’t seen my sister this happy in years.

Will, you are a true gentleman- your mother did a great raising you! You put family first. You make my sister so incredibly happy – and when you don’t, I am sure she lets you know…it takes a lot to marry a Bedwell girl. Call Justin for advice if you ever need it. But I know you will be:

• a wonderful husband to Sarah
• a great father to Braxen and Landen
• and amazing brother to me

We are so happy to welcome you and your family into ours.

So, let’s all raise our glasses and cheers to the beautiful and happy newlyweds.


Much love,
Ashley

My Morning Speech

Would you guess that I get nervous about speaking in public?

Extremely.

Nervous.

But it's a good kind of nervous - the kind that leaves me with a "high on life feeling" when I am finished.

This morning, I spoke at the Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast through School on Wheels.  They wanted someone to explain how the group was developed, what it stands for, upcoming events and how people can get involved. As the Vice President of Membership of SPOKES, I was a perfect fit.

I was early - per usual - early to the event. I walked up to the Toyota car they are raffling off (if anyone donates $100 or more to School on Wheels and / or joins SPOKES - they are entered to win this amazing 2012 Toyota).

It appeared that that someone was in the car when I drove by, so I waved.

It was not a person.

It was a blowup doll, who I later learned is named Daryl.

Raise your hand if you waved at a blowup doll today. 

Yeah - that's what I thought, just me.

KD spoke before me about the Project Life Mentor Program. She joked that she didn't come prepared with notes or a written out speech, so she was just going to wing it.

I would be a hot mess if I showed up without notes. If you paid any attention to my tweets this week, I was practicing my speech in the shower, in traffic, during my runs and any other "down time" the week allowed.

Despite her lack of notes, she did an amazing job telling her story about how she got involved with School on Wheels / Project Life.

And then she did it.

She got me super emotional right before it was my turn to speak.

"My mentee has Type 2 Diabetes," KD said. "So, I work with her to overcome the side effects and implications of the illness. And this is really near and dear to me...because...two weeks ago one of my best friends died from a diabetic coma."

My throat tightened.

I was fighting my own tears.

I immediately thought of my step-mom ...one morning I found her with VERY low blood sugar. My dad had already left for work, so it was up to me to find the glucose shot, mix it correctly and inject it into her. I was terrified that I would do something wrong, but my dad coached me over on the phone....thankfully, her sugars returned to normal and she was fine in a few hours.

Then, I thought of my grandpa- who battled diabetes his entire life. He lost a leg to the disease, and eventually died in his sleep one night.

The rest of her speech was a blur, and before I knew it...my name was being called.

"So, I'd like to welcome up Ashley Seeeb," Laura said.

A few people laughed because earlier she (and most of the SOW staff) was asking how to pronounce my name.

"And I promised I wouldn't butcher her name," Laura added.

"You did great, Laura- thank you for the introduction," I said. "I am the exact opposite of KD. I was the weirdo who practiced my speech in the shower and car and everywhere in-between...so let's see how this goes..."

The group laughed and with that I was sharing my story about how I got involved with School on Wheels.

People laughed at my jokes and smiled at my stories.

I tried to make eye contact and smile at people all across the room. My speech teacher would have been proud.

Overall, they seemed very engaged with what I was saying about SPOKES, which is a community outreach group that helps children impacted by homelessness in our city through networking and social events.

My voice felt shaky - and I'm sure a few people noticed that - but I was still trying to overcome the emotions from KD's speech. I remember thinking - if you start crying, just pretend that you love SPOKES so much it brings you to tears.

I came back to my table and one of the amazing SOW staff members (Sam) said, "Beautiful - you did a great job!"

It was the perfect boast of confidence, and with that- my "high on life" feeling was in full effect.

At the end of the event, I had three people come up and express interest in SPOKES.

Boom.

Success. 

I even got the chance to meet a few of my Twitter friends in "real life" (I'm looking at you, Melissa).

Driving home, I decided to be spontaneous. I plan nearly every second of my day. It's a bad habit. Sometimes I wish I could just walk out the door- with no where to go and nothing on my mind.

And for the first time in awhile- I had no plans.

So I called up Sarah and Dusty Frey - and we were off to go vinyl shopping for Happy Record Store Day.

Dusty creeping in the background.

I didn't buy any vinyl records - because we don't have a record player- but I did get some awesome country music CDs for our DJ business ($1 CDs - check please)! Faith Hill, Toby Keith, Tricia Yearwood and don't forget my random find - Oasis.

I also found some AWESOME gourmet dog treats for Bandit, shaped like squirrels.

Best dog mom ever.
That's me.

I came up, snuggled with Bandit and took a nap.

Cuddle bug.

I ended my Saturday evening by having dinner with my family. We had lots of laughs, good food (salad and mini burgers), great brew (Gumball Head) and Starbucks (iced green tea) for dessert.

The Starbucks addiction runs in the family.
Love you, Dad!

I could really get used to this relaxing and going-with-the-flow thing.

Much love,
Ashley