Martin's speech September 30, 2006

My husband's wedding speech:

"I'd like to start by thanking everyone for coming and in particular those from out of the country as far flung as family from Ireland and Poland. It's good to see everyone here safe, sound and relatively sober - I'm looking at you Scott! Natalia and I will make an effort to walk around and catch up with everyone later this evening.
Good evening and welcome in polish but sorry if I just cursed at you.
(insert horrible polish effort here)
I'd like to start by thanking the groomsmen and in particular Myles, my best man for the moving speech and organizing the epic stag night - I'll have to see the pictures to remind me of how it went. Also, a thanks to Graydon for performing the Master of Ceremonies role this evening - you've done an impressive job. The venue tonight is a restaurant owned by the Ross family and a special thanks to Chris and Currie for making it available to us.
It's been great getting to know Natalia's family. She has an older brother John whom as many of you know is an extremely fir guy. He completed an Iron man a couple of years ago in an impressive time. I mulled over signing up myself however, I've heard about this feat so much I feel like I've done one already - may even get this Iron man tattoo. He also talked me into signing up for this military boot camp on Saturday mornings at 7am for two hours. My best man Myles, signed up as well and stayed the course valiantly until the second week which landed after St.Paty's day. Seriously though, John you're a great guy and anyone who can keep up with all the lads on that hairy stag weekend is a strong man. And on the record, I promise to do an Ironman with you before I turn 35....okay 40.
Nat's parents have both been more than hospitable and welcomed me warmly into their family. Nat's mother, Hanna or Mama and I hit it off immediately over our entrepreneurial interests...or some may say obsessions. We swapped our trials and tribulations over google sponsored searches of which Hanna was able to grasp the complexities much better than I. I have a feeling the rest of the family was quite happy to have me deflect the google talks from their tired ears. Hanna - I look forward to many more strategic chats about our start ups over one of your delicious polish home cooked meals.
Nat's father, or Tata, Chris, also has been extremely welcoming. I remember his first words to me at a family BBQ. He came up to me expressively waving his arms and bellowed EAT..EAT...okay sorry that sounded Italian. I've since realized the importance of food in the Polish culture and have been force-fed ever since. Chris is also an extremely neat man. Nat and I often visited for swims in their pool over the hot summer months. He would set the temperature at a balmy 90 degrees and clean the pool for us. I've yet to spot a leaf in the pool and this is quite the feat considering it's in the middle of a dense forest.
Although the language has been a barrier, I've also enjoyed getting to know Nat's grandparents straight from the old country. From the short exchange of words we've had you can tell that they are kind and generous people who love their grandchildren very much. As I become increasingly fluent in Polish (haha) we can get to know each other on a much deeper level.
And now for my parents....
Mum - You're the best mother a son could ask for - although a tad protective at times, it probably kept me out of trouble in retrospect. I remember a time I was BBQ'ing while living with two university friends. My mom called and spoke with one of them and asked to make sure that I was not using a metal spatula since there was a storm brewing and she was worried I may get struck by lightening. I heard about that one for many years! Or the time I went trekking through Nicaragua with one of the groomsmen, Cameron. It was the time of the sunami and of course the giant wave was going to hang a sharp left and sweep across two continents to wipe me out in the middle of central America.
In all seriousness, I appreciate you standing by and supporting me through all my crazy decisions....or what seemed crazy at the time. Taking off to Bermuda to soak up the sun for 2 years or quitting my accounting job to start up a small company from my friend's basement. Not all easy decisions to support but you did in the end and I thank you for that.
Everyone in life takes to you very quickly and you bring fun, lightness and vitality to every situation. I"m very proud to have you as my mum.
I'm not also blessed with one outstanding parent, I'm lucky enough to have two. I've learned a great deal from your professionalism and the way you conduct your affairs with the utmost integrity. These key life lessons you've imparted allow me to steer the ethical ship in tough times in the right direction. There have been many other pearls of wisdom imparted such as the importance of competitive sport and losing with dignity. I remember playing a tennis match at the alpha club when I was 10 in Ireland. I was playing one of the top females in the club and was winning handily. However, my sister Jayne who was somehow chosen as the umpire had other ideas. I remember some poor line calls and scoring inaccuracies which led to a minor temper tantrum, of which Macenroe would be proud. Dad caught the tail end of this episode and taught me the 'losing with dignity' lesson very well. Although that loss still stings a little.
It's always important for a son to feel his father is proud of him and I hope I have and will continue to do so. I'm proud of the man you are and as people continuously remind me - I have big shoes to fill.
Now for my lovely bride, whom I'm sure everyone agrees looks very beautiful tonight. I've grown as a person more since I've known you than any other stretch in my life. You've encouraged positive changes in my life - sometimes aggressively - that are deep and lasting. I met you when I was living in my friend and groomsman Cams basement, starting up a small company and having wild hot tub parties every night......seem to have forgotten my point.....ah yes, you helped me get grounded and back on track. I';; never forget coming home and finding all my old clothes in garbage bags destined for the salvation army. Thanks for letting me know in a nice way that my fashion sense was questionable.
The first thing I recognized when we first met, to borrow words from my good friend Mark Crane, was your extremely white and perfectly symmetrical teeth. I fell in love with you very quickly. I came to get to know and respect the role religion plays in your life and how it serves as a moral underpinning to all your major life decisions. You have a strong character and you continuously amaze me with your ability to handle tough obstacles in stride where others would struggle. I also admire and am a wee bit afraid of your almost obsessive compulsive nature when it comes to cleanliness which nicely counteracts my ability to let mess pile up unnoticed for weeks on end. this is a behavioural trait with which I'm very used to living with - Doris!!
The one aspect of our relationship I cherish the most is our amazing ability to chat about all manner of things for hours and hours on end with barely a pause in the conversation. When returning home from Chicago we sat at our gate knowing our flight was about to leave in 5 minutes or so. We paused from our in-depth conversation for a second to watch our flight take off from the gate and remarked how it seemed to be taking a while to board. We were so en-grossed in the chat that we didn't even notice our names being called over and over again on the PA system. Although we weren't too thrilled at the time at missing the flight, at least we now know we will never be even slightly bored with each other's company after many long long LONG years of marriage.
I now invite you all to raise your glasses of champagne (no not the whole bottle Scott!!) and toast the importance of good friends and family, and of course my beautiful bride. Enjoy an evening of dinner, drinks, and good cheer.

Cheers to all and Na Sdrowie!"
(Martin speaking - Good job Marty!!)