dunhaven; ic community.

My best friend and brother is getting married today and here are some things I know (don't worry, I've saved some for my speech later).

I know that there is no man in this world who will be a better husband to my soon-to-be sister-in-law, and that there is no woman in this world who will be a better wife to him.

I know that, in terms of great men that I have had the fortune to know, my best friend and brother is at the very top. He is some of the best parts of our mother and our father, in ways he often doesn't even recognize, and he is even more parts the very best of himself.

I know that I have seen him happier since reconnecting with Oceana than I have seen him in a long time and, for that, I will be eternally grateful to my sister-in-law. I hope that he ignites that same happiness in you for the rest of your days.

I know that I could have asked for no better family to be born into and that there will be no days in the coming months and years and decades that either of you will be without the unparalleled support system that is the Waters family.

I know that Dad would be proud of you today, Nick. And I know, more than I know anything else, that he is proud of you all days.

Thank you for being my rock, my best friend, and a big piece of the foundation that is our family. Oceana, I would tell you that I am excited and joyful to welcome you to this family but you already are a part of it. So I will tell you both that there is nothing else I would rather be doing today than witnessing your marriage, and that I am full of certainty that your marriage will be beautiful.

I love both of you so very much and I hope your day is full of blessings, and hope, and promises of a future that cannot be dimmed.

MEHDI

Other things I know.

I know that, as I watch you stand in front of that mirror in the bathroom right now, fixing your tie and double checking for stubble on your chin, that I love you more today than I even did yesterday. Every day I love you more than I thought possible, and more than the day before.

I know that my love for you is as loud and demanding and uncontrolled as raging rapids, as sure and steady as a river, and as depthless as an ocean.

I know that you have somehow become as much a rock to me as Nick has always been.

I know that waking up to you this morning and every morning is the greatest gift I have ever received.

I know that I'm going to dance with you tonight until our feet feel like they might fall off.

And I know that I will spend this evening the way I always do, wrapped in your arms, your warmth, your goodness, and the certainty of you and us.

So when I close my computer and come wrap my arms around you and press my cheek to your back, I hope you know, without having even seen this yet, that my embrace is full of a sureness that there is no man on this earth that I would rather be spending this day with.

Guess who's wearing Converse to a wedding today. 🤘🏽

I'm too pregnant for this to be the day I start wearing heels.