A Pair of Speeches, Bricktown
Style at The Meagan Ballard/Doug Hall Wedding
Don't let his seeming composure in this pic fool you;
Best Man West Coast was pooping his pants right up until the
moment he hit the floor to deliver his speech.
For the two months leading up to their October 6,
2007 wedding extravaganza I struggled to find the words to properly
toast my life long friend Doug Hall and his bride Meagan Ballard.
It wasn’t a lack of information or stories that kept me
revising, editing, and pruning right up until the moment I hit
the floor to deliver my speech, but rather my frantic inability
to express my full feelings and emotions in an eloquent, real,
and non-cliché way. The result of my 60 days and 60 nights
of panic, confusion, and finally exhilaration as I stood before
Doug, Meg, and their family and friends is my testament to my
friendship with the two, my intimate knowledge of their relationship,
and my observations on finding home in this ever more disconnected
society of ours.
The speech, itself ran the gamut of anecdotes from my youth with
Doug in Brick, New Jersey to our days as roommates in Boston,
from witnessing the first romantic encounter of my friends to
snapping photos of their engagement a year and a half later, and
beyond. Not a toast in the strictest sense and not really a true
homage to Doug or Meg or their relationship in the normal way
one might expect, my speech is nonetheless a heart felt tribute
to my friends on their special day in a manner that best encapsulates
my always odd approach to finding a bigger picture from life’s
ever changing details. I regret having to use notes to get my
points across but I hope those who witnessed my words didn’t
let that aspect take away from the true outpouring of emotion
that was present in everything I spoke.
Special thanks to "The Cool Guy" for recording the
speech on her digital camera. The speech is slightly cut because
she ran out of memory partway through. It did resume, however,
for the closing statements.
So without further adieu please enjoy my tribute to my friend
Doug Hall and his lovely wife Meg.
by S.M, October 10, 2007, Seattle, WA, USA
Part 01 Muoio Delivers
The Goods
Part 02 The Closing Statement
Bonus... Chris Corde Cries!
The hardest man in Sheep's Head Bay breaks
down talking about The Mets and his bosom buddy, Doug Hall as
he delivers his
Best Man East Coast Speech.
