Dear Maddie and Jonathan,
I thought in true Mucci
fashion, I would give my advice in a
rap. Tom Baker, Could you please come lay down a
beat for me? Okay, Just kidding.
I’m not going to rap. Besides, it
took me too long to rhyme ferris
forever. Wear us whenever? Declare us withersoever? (and now you are going to spend the rest of
this ceremony trying to rhyme ferris forever).
I also thought it might be a
good idea to pass out my new invention that I have invented just for occasions
like this. You can wear it and use it at
the same time. Functional and
fashionable (and it glows in the dark).
sO I may need this handy for the rest of my speech.
As I look over there and see that beautiful woman today she takes my breath away.
But in so many ways when I think of Maddie I
will always think of this picture
Notice the big fresh scrape
on her chin that she got earlier in the day from hitting the mirror of a parked
car on her scooter. And that is
Maddie—she knocked the crud out of her self, skinned her face but somehow
expects that when she climbs on that rigged up scooter with her safety helmet
on that good things are going to happen.
And that has been one of the greatest blessings of my life—raising a
daughter who truly believes every day that good things are going to
happen. And they have. And today, we
stand here in the middle of such goodness and love and our hearts bust with
hope for you and Jonathan, Maddie.
In Hebrews it talks about
running the race set before us. You know
I love that scripture because it talks about running but really, I love it when
I think of you and Jonathan because I am reminded of this huge cheering crowd
of people around you. You both are so
loved. You have grandparents who have
sewed for you, painted for you, built things for you, cooked things for you,
and prayed and prayed for you and cheerleaded every step of your relationship
publicly on Facebook.
You both have amazing churches of people who have celebrated
your every step. We are surrounded by
friends who would do just about anything for you at any time.
We parents pray for God to
send someone perfect for our child and Jonathan, there you are. You are sweet. You are so incredibly patient and kind and
you are rock solid. You balance out
Maddie’s hyper. You laugh at her dumb
jokes, many of which she gets from her dad.
You know how to embrace the awkward.
You know when she needs a Dr. Pepper and
you know when she needs some snacks and you appreciate how she wants to
turn even simple moments into a party and you care about making a home where
there is love and grace and Jesus and there is nothing I could ask more for in
the man who will marry my daughter.
You both have such an
adventure ahead. And it will not always
be Dr. pepper and sunshine. Because the
truth is love is messy. We fail each
other. We hurt each other. WE are impatient and selfish and hangry and
sometimes just not nice. Do the best you
can but if you can work at one thing as a couple it is this. Breathe grace. I just love sweet Mason in that video when he
says that when things are difficult, in the end..just love. Make your sweet home one where people will
come in and breathe in the grace.
In 2nd Corinthians
Paul writes” You are our letter, written
on our hearts, known and read by everyone. “
Paul is telling the people that their lives are his letter to explain
who Jesus is and the letter is written by the Holy Spirit. And Maddie and Jonathan, your lives are our
letter—your dad and I and Tom and Carol.
And Your life letter tells your story.
We are so incredibly proud of your story and so humbled to be part of
it. It’s a story of parents who have
been far from perfect and pretty much always
awkward, of brothers who are annoying but adore you, of funny goofy days and very hard days but
mostly of grace and love. And now you
are headed into this incredible opportunity to build a home in a community that
is going to be perfect for you—for the two of you together, to love on
students, to teach, to learn, and there is no doubt that this is the next part
of the letter that God had planned for you for so long.
About that next part, be gentle with us parents. Remember that two minute phone silence that
we had when you told me you thought you all might be getting married? It wasn’t because I don’t adore Jonathan or
because I thought you weren’t mature
enough to marry. It was because I wasn’t
ready for you to grow up. I have
loved every single part of being your
mom.
I loved watching you climb the
steps of the bus on your first day of kindergarten, watch you make up bad
dances in the yard with Taylor and Marissa, I’ve loved you standing in the
kitchen and learning to cook things with me, and I will never forget the night
you came in and climbed in bed with your dad and I and said “Jonathan and I
kissed for the first time tonight” and your face was the sweetest thing I have
ever seen. And we are seldom ready as
parents to move to the next moment. And
we all feel a little like you looked in that picture with your safety helmet
on, ski poles, skateboards tied together ready to fly down the driveway. Like you Maddie moo, we know good things
are going to happen..sometimes we just need to sit at the top of the driveway
for a bit.
We adore you both. Pretty soon the preacher will say you are
husband and wife but it is your covenant to each other that will make you
husband and wife, your decision to get up every morning and commit to love each
other and do the best you can and to grow a marriage that is marriage your way
. Be for each other. Tell dumb jokes. Have Netflix marathons. Try new wines. Play
board games. Eat Reeses Puffs
regularly. And love…just love.