Wedding Day!

Thank you for coming and sharing in our celebration of Bryce and Elisa’s wedding.

My name is Sean and I am Bryce’s older brother. I’ve been asked offer a toast to the groom.

As Bryce’s brother I’m sure you are expecting a list of amusing childhood anecdotes that make Bryce sweat slightly but eventually end up being mildly humorous tales.

I’m going to pass on those.

However, given Bryce’s current career as a lawyer, for the record I’d like to state that the incident where my friends and I dropped Bryce on his head from a height onto our concrete front porch was completely unplanned and he appears to have suffered no ill effects.

Also, for the record, I always admired Bryce’s ability to demand a reasonable, rational explanation for the indignities that are a part of every small child’s life. My parents may have a different opinion.

So instead of speaking about how Bryce was a challenging child I thought I’d speak about the kind of man he has become.

This is the part where I started getting choked up writing the speech. If all else fails I plan to retreat to sporting metaphors.

The kind of man Bryce is…

He is an articulate, intelligent man with a keenly developed sense of right and wrong.

He has a great love for Elisa, for art, for music and for fine food. He has grasped his life and is living it well.

I’ll let Shelia address all of Elisa’s wonderful qualities but I’d certainly say we’re glad she’ll be part of our family.

Many of you know Bryce through work and school. I thought I’d take the time to offer two anecdotes about the summertime Bryce.

The first image I carry around of the summertime Bryce is his work as a youth camp leader. That summer I was working as a lifeguard in the pool at Pitt Meadows where both of us learned to swim. He was well tanned, in shorts and a tank top surrounded by kids at Pitt Meadows park. He always looked comfortable and in control and treated the children with respect and integrity. For the record, the governance structure on the field was a benevolent dictatorship but the kids were quite happy nonetheless.

The second image of summertime Bryce is of him and Elisa on the ultimate field. Bryce and Elisa have played ultimate for many years so I thought it was appropriate that we mention the sport. For the record again, Bryce says Elisa is the better player.

Several years back Bryce and Elisa and their team Ultrasuede were playing an ultimate game down at Jericho for the championship of their division. It was a beautiful summer evening with a light breeze and a perfect Vancouver moment with the oceans, beach and mountains as the backdrop.

The game began with a team cheer and baptism ritual where each team member held onto the disc with one hand and Bryce, as captain, made a short inspirational statement and then poured water over the disc. Then the highly competitive game began. There were layouts, blocked discs, amazing catches and out and out gut-churning running.

Ultrasuede was up by one and playing for the game point. The disc was thrown into the front corner of the end zone and I saw Bryce with his loping stride disappear into a group of bodies and a cloud of dust. Moments later he came rolling out with the disc in his hand and the game was over. They’d won. He’d done what the captain was supposed to do. A summer of hard work and a great team ended with a great result.

Many of you know of Bryce’s work ethic, his love of debate and his sharp intellect.

I want you also to remember that moment of Bryce and Elisa standing in the sun, covered in sweat and dust, celebrating.

To Bryce….