On July 2, 2016, my cousin, Caitlyn, married her best friend, Mike. I had the honor of being the maid of honor; below is the speech I wrote. It’s also the first in a series of love stories I’d like to transcribe. 

I have known Caitlyn her entire life. I remember seeing her open her eyes in her first days of life. We’ve taken vacations together, sobbed in each other’s arms after our grandmother passed away last year, drank too much cheap beer at each other’s colleges, made hundreds of dozens of Christmas cookies in my mom’s kitchen, and played fake instruments with my brother for a made-up band on multiple occasions.

Quite a while ago, I had this idea to write couples’ love stories – their stories of meeting and falling in love. I wanted to write stories about couples who had a strong bond, a solid relationship, and were still truly in love. When my cousin Caitlyn asked me to be her maid of honor, I knew that their love story would be my first. I emailed each of them separately and secretly, asking them a multitude of questions about their relationship. Today, I present to you, the love story of Caitlyn and Mike:

Their relationship had a rocky start, lasting only two weeks, as middle school “relationships” will do. They remained friends and the summer before their senior year of college, they reconnected as “more than friends.” It only took two dates and a Cubs game for Mike to know that it was love. Three months later, these two said three magical words: I love you. Several years and several Cubs games later, the two trudged on through a long distance relationship. On multiple occasions, Caitlyn would cry to me and ask, “Why is this so hard?”, yet she never gave up on them. I really think it’s because she knew, deep down, that Mike was an amazing catch. That in the end, the struggles of long distance would all be worth it. And she was right – hence why we’re here today!

Mike knew it too. He fell for Caitlyn’s sense of humor and has stayed because she truly is a ray of light. In Mike’s words, they have soooo much fun together – he even wrote 4 o’s to prove his point. “She is always there for me,” he said, “and when we do anything, she is always goofing around and being silly. I hope that I do the same for her.”

And while no relationship is perfect – Mike maybe watches a little too much golf – these two have a special bond where each other’s happiness is first and foremost.

I received Mike’s answers first, and when I asked them for any last comments, I cried out of sheer happiness that my lovely cousin was marrying such a lovely man. Mike told me, “She honestly makes me a better person everyday. She makes me happy when I’m sad, she always wants to do things, and she is always getting me back on track when I cannot figure something out.” Caitlyn is a gem and I know that together they will take good care of one another.

I wish these two best friends a life full of happiness, love and babies, lots of babies!