My friend Sam got himself married yesterday; twas a lovely affair, a heartfelt, warm and loving affair; and I am very glad I had the chance to be there, joyfully tearful in the midst of them.
His Best Friend of many many years gave a wonderful speech, sharing with us what a blessing Sam has been to Zeke; and it made me sit and think, how much Sam has given me, all these years. What would I have said, if I had to give the speech about Sam?
Sam is the one of the best person I know. We haven’t seen each other in close to 6 months, and we don’t talk very often, but I know, surely, Sam has got my back. He replies every sms sent out, even if a few days late because he is in who-knows-where racing his bike or another marathon or another biathlon, or another triathlon or another megatron-athon.
Despite how busy we both are, and no matter how long we haven’t spoken to each other for, Sam is never far—always, in my heart– a close friend. One of my closest friends, my inner circle. Sam and I were JC classmates; and we started hanging out almost immediately—he copied my tutorials; and sat next to me in literature class so that I would answer the questions for him, about books he never even read. We shared a locker—he left the locker in a mess of falling books, kept a red man-thong in the corner (it was given to him as a gift, he was too embarrassed to bring it home), used up all my shampoo and left his sweaty PE shirts in there overnight. Sam climbs walls and goes for sea expeditions on canoes (how is that fun?), enjoying the physical rigours of being the vice president of Odac. I was the president of the Visual Arts club—fine arts, not OHP—painting, comic drawing, soap carvings. Can we be more different, my friend Sam and I?
That said, Sam ran my 2.4 km with me—immediately after he ran his own. He cajoled and teased and threatened and finally resorted to dragging me through the ordeal. He carried my bag when he knew I was exhausted, he searched for hours for my beaded ring that I was always leaving around and then getting upset it was lost, he saw me through my many break-ups with my ex boyfriend—being my fervent supporter when we broke up, and my biggest cheerleader when we got back together. He never judged, never objected, never gave up. He patiently talked me through my tears.
Sam is the perfect gentleman—he was one of three guys in a classroom full of 18 emotionally unstable girls. What a shock it must have been for him, who came from an all-guys school his entire life up till then. He suddenly had to carry files, move tables and chairs, clean whiteboards after every lesson of every day, deal with temper tears, happy tears, heartbroken tears, song-induced tears, literature-induced tears, poor-grades tears, silent tears and even i-dunno-why tears. He supplied copious amounts of tissues, listened to endless gripes about girl issues (I think he had heard enough to last a lifetime), and sat waiting, poor boy, for one or all of us as we ran into the bathroom.
We sat together for every class and lecture (except during geography – sam refused to study geography; and economics – I refused to study economics); we ate all our breaks together with the rest of our clique; we hung out after school with our clique, we smsed at night. Despite the fact that I went to school maybe 4 time a week, Sam never dropped me like it’s hot—I wonder who he sat with when I wasn’t around. It has never occurred to me, until now. The start of the second year of our Pre-University days was a time I’d always remember. Because of some rumour of unknown origin, Sam decided that we were too “close” and he needed some space from our friendship. I sms-ed him to death about it, without being able to understand why I suddenly lost my closest friend in school. He took to hiding out in darkened corners of our school to avoid my “why why whys” and it took me a couple of days to take the hint. Boy, those were strange days. Thankfully we were back to normal after the longest two months of my life. And just to make sure I still get to hang out with my friend Sam after he gets married, for the record—Elaine, Sam and I never had anything going. In fact, Sam never had anything going with anyone before he met you—it was really as if he was saving himself just for you.
If I had to give an adjective to best describe him, and I was only given ONE word to encompass it all, I would say Sam is Steadfast. Sam is Steadfast, with a Capital S.
Sam and Elaine’s journey has just begun—and I am so glad, truly, from the bottom of my heart—that they managed to find each other—and how suited they are for each other! From the common interests in outdoor adventure stuff, to their personalities—Elaine and Sam are such a well matched duo. This is the “best friends wedding”—how wonderful, how wonderful to be marrying your best friend. I echo Zeke, the best man— Sam and Elaine, Live Happy; Honour God.
Thank you, for being a part of my life, my friend, Sam. And thank you, for being the perfect woman for him, Elaine.
To many many years of friendship with the both of you, this is my toast, from a grateful friend.
(all these pictures are taken off the couple’s facebook page; none of the photos credit mine)
dancinglights 