Little Brother Gettin Married : My Toast

Because I am the big sister I feel have the inherent instinct to boss my brother around. I think this a blessing; for him I mean.
I remember pretty vividly when Josh was born. I peed my bed, got a "Big Sister" shirt and Mom ate jello. I was in love with him. My neighbor Jenny Patterson told me, "you just wait" you will not like him pretty soon, nobody likes their little brothers."
"Yes I will!" I told her, "I will always love him!" After all he was a real live breathing dolly - way better than anything I'd seen on the Toys-R-Us commercials.
I did love him. Until he was like four. He wasn't fun at four. Or five. That was about the point that he started up his career in the theatrical. I would brush past him and he somehow would fly across the room knocking over furniture and landing in a heaping, sobbing mess. Plus, he was always telling me how his feet were someday going to be bigger than mine, and I was just not ready to give up that position in the family. I think we would have gotten along better if I had been allowed to spank him.
I think we really started to bond again was when I gave him my dog, or maybe when I punched out his tooth and he laughed. At that point we became really good friends. It was a little while later that we moved to Oregon. We had to share a room, but we learned to have a whole new appreciation for each other because I was too shy to make friends, and Josh's 6th grade teacher pulled out hairs in the back of her sons neck for discipline.
After that we were pretty much inseparable. I really liked Josh, he was probably my best friend.
At the terrible age of 13 I was passionate, I was emotional, I was confused. My parents and I would have "heated conversations". Josh would enter the war zone only to calmly translate to my parents what I was trying to say. I was always relieved to discover what I was saying too. I will never forget that.
I always had a high standard for whatever girl crossed his path. Josh is a born romancer. I don't know if you remember when he had long blond curly locks, but as the owner of a local restaurant put it, "Girls would die to have that hair...actually girls would die to have him and that hair." My job as the bossy big sister was sometimes very difficult. I think I ordered him not to date anyone.
When Josh was about seventeen, and I was twenty-one I managed the local coffee shop in Lakeside. There was a girl there about Josh's age that I liked. Not just liked, but liked enough to trust her with my brother. The girls name was Alyssa. She had everything a girl needed she was beautiful; smart and SO genuine.
I went to my parents house after work and told my brother that if her were to date someone, he should date Alyssa. Little did I know Josh had been going very frequently to the coffee shop on Alyssa's shifts. A little stalker-ish, but cute. He already had his eye on her, but was refraining because he had decided he was only going to pursue a girl if I liked her.
Josh and Alyssa, I am so proud of you and so glad that you found each other. Don't let anyone discourage you for being young. It is wonderful to grow up together. Don't worry, I realize I've been replaced and I won't boss you around anymore. Alyssa, you have chosen a man with strong character. He is honorable and a true gentlemen. You know it's true when the sister can tell you it's true. That's not normal.
Alyssa, I love you and you are just the woman I did pick for my brother. You are beautiful and kind, and I am so thankful to be able to call you my friend.
Josh I have some great advice for you that Graham learned from Uncle Gary, "there will be times when you find yourself having to do somethings that you really have no desire to do....like shopping for her shoes as an example. At those times my best advice to you is just follow her around the mall and tell her she's pretty."

So I love you guys, I'm so thankful we're friends. May God bless everything you do or touch. May you have abundance in your marriage and never want for anything. May your friendship grow every day and your pursuit as lovers never grow dull. To Josh and Alyssa!