Billy's Wedding Speech (My Best Friend)

To My Best Friend on Her Wedding Day

Thank you Amy and Brent for asking me to be a part of your big day. Amy and I met when we were in high school. I was in grade 9 and Amy was in grade 10. I was walking up the stairs to a class on the second floor and thought I recognized the person in front of me and decided to pinch her butt.

It wasn't who I thought it was. It was Amy, and she turned around pretty much ready to knock me on my ass. But as she likes to tell it, the look of fear and embarrassment on my face stopped her. As I apologized profusely she must have felt sorry for me or something and took me under her wing. Befriended me, protected me, and raised me up a bit on the social ladder.

For the longest time I didn't know what she saw on my face that day or why she took me under her wing, until recently. Most of you know Amy and you know she loves to rescue animals. Every kind, puppies, goats, pigs, ducks or bunnies. Anything that has been abused, or is lost, and needs a place to feel safe. Well whether Amy knew it or not at the time, she rescued me that day. Knowing what we know now, I was abused, and lost, and needed to feel safe. Amy did all that. I can say without a doubt that I wouldn't be standing here today if I hadn't pinched that butt so many years ago.

So we grew up together. Lots of ups and a bunch of downs. We spent time playing improve games in the loft of the barn, remember Jenn. Spent a summer before college working in the Bindery at Sullivan Graphics. Singing show-tunes over top of the machines, (if you didn't know I was gay then...) and having a crazy shampoo, soap, and whatever else we could find, fight at her parents one morning, chasing each other around the house after a week of midnight shifts.

Life sometimes separated us for periods of time but we always came back to each other and have been with each other through all the phases, adventures, mistakes, and heartbreaks. The best way I can explain it is, I am her Will and She is my Grace. In fact when the show Will and Grace 1^st came on I remember calling Amy and the both of us saying “ Oh my God did someone steal our lives and make a TV show?”. I even once said to Amy, wouldn't it be cool if my name was Will so i could be her Will. She started laughing and looked at funny, and laughed even more when i didn't get what i just said. “You idiot” she said, “You are my Will”. Since my name is Technically Will.

And like friends do, we talked and dreamed about what our lives would be like as we grew up. We always pictured Amy living in the country on a farm with all her animals and me being an actor living in the city. I would come visit her and her husband on the farm to get away from it all. Amy and I would be in the kitchen getting dinner ready while both our men would be outside having a beer and shooting the breeze at the barbecue.

Well 3 years ago I came home and was introduced to Brent. By this time I had dropped the y from my name and was Bill. Except when I came home and my family and friends still call me Billy. Brent said “ You must be Billy, I've heard all about you” . I wasn't sure if that was good or bad but I thought nice guy lets see how this goes. That 1^st night the 3 of us went to out and as we got in the car Brent went to the back seat and said “ You're Billy you ride up front with Amy”. It was one of the smartest things he could have ever done. It scored points with both me and Amy, and every time after that, when ever we got together and the 3 of us went out I rode shot gun with Amy.

For those of you who don't really know Amy and for those of you who really do, Amy is..... How should i put this?... Amy is Complicated. And I mean that in the best possible way. Amy is a small town girl who is comfortable in the big city. She loves to go to football game one night and to a Broadway show the next. She is an English major who will read the classics of literature, poetry or a crappy romance novel all in the same week. She will speak her mind, tell you like it is and shoots from the hip. She is also love and compassion like I have never seen. She is hard and soft. She is a cowgirl, horseback riding, motorcycle driving bumpkin, and at the same time a designer handbag, $200 dollar pair of shoes, night at the opera, fly to Europe in a fabulous dress Princess.

And to be with her you have to know all this, and get it. That's what Brent does. Brent you get all the parts of her and you fit! Not only do you fit but you do it all while respecting every part of her, and you make her happy. I couldn't ask for more.

Back to the part of our dream of Amy and I in the Kitchen, while our guys BBQ. Well Amy's got that dream. The house, the farm, the animals, and I can honestly say she is alone in the kitchen because I am the one out at the BBQ with Brent with a beer shooting the breeze. And I'm not sure if Brent or Amy noticed but when I came home for the engagement party after we spent the day here building picnic tables and me learning how to use power tools, we got in the truck to head back to the farm. Before Brent even got the chance I climbed in the back seat and they rode in the front together. I'm sure it wasn't even something any of us realized, myself included. It just felt right.

Amy, I will always be your Will, and you will always be my Grace, but I am happy to know that today you have married your best friend. To Amy and Brent