On your wedding

May 28, 2007

Dear Colin and Becky,

I love you both so much. I would like to be able to tell you all this in person, but I know I would forget things and start to cry. Plus this way you can come back to it if you’d like to be reminded of how very special you both are individually and now together.

You’re somewhere in England as I write this. I imagine you with the rental car, scanning maps, having adventures, getting lost, living in castles for a time, learning and growing and laughing together as always.


Becky, you are a wonder. You have forever been, really. Your kindness and thoughtfulness and energy radiate from you to touch anyone you pass on the street or see or know. Those of us lucky enough to be your family are truly blessed for having you so weaved into our lives. Steve was talking with Colin about people in Paris being not so friendly to Americans, but Colin had it right when he said that everyone will like you two, because he has you with him.

Your energy and joy are contagious. I have thought of you as a model and example of those feeling. I don’t know if you have consciously chosen to create yourself into the strong, intuitive, loving, sensitive woman who you are or if it was your parents and your family or simply your innate charm and sparkle—probably some combination of everything and more. And more will add to that also.

It matters less how you became you, and more that you are you. I think of you sometimes when I feel dark and it reminds me of the light. You have long been a treasured friend, and now you will long be a treasured sister. I, too, am so excited for the rest of your life with Colin and the rest of us—so excited!


Colin, my brother and friend forever, how to tell you how special you are to me is a challenge. In fact, I have stared at this computer screen and wandered around Steve’s house for over an hour now trying to think of the right words to use to tell you how much I love you and how very very lucky I feel to be your big sister and friend for all these years.

You have grown from the little curly-headed boy who unknowingly let me put bows in his hair, to the big curly headed boy who wears elf hats with Becky. You went from tagging along after me to being my best playmate to taking care of me. I just listened to a tape on love and how love is in the moments that you share and have shared together. We have so many moments, brother!

Playing in the ditch, tubing the creek, chasing after each other and you two would scamper under the fence and I’d be so mad, swinging from the barn swing, getting the hay in (you went from barely able to roll the bales to throwing them all over the place pre back hurt), going to your baseball games, traveling to Mexico and snorkeling in the coral, playing in the waves of Lake Michigan, road trips in the Suberban with it breaking down all the time (and we sold that to Becky’s family!), then trips in the minivan, hearing about all your crazy wildness and being glad you’re still alive, being there with you in court when you were afraid, yet strong and knew what you needed to do, Pony Club Camp and Rallys, hikes through the Ishi Wilderness with ticks everywhere, treks through the Thousand Lakes wilderness after “Strider” when there was also a certain curly brown haired girl there and we all built the best raft ever, living with you in Davis, rafting the Grand Canyon with you driving the raft and scampered up the streams, driving with me to Cincinnati, listening to Harry Potter and talking, watching you play your new guitar there on top of my only chair (the garbage can), trying to set me straight on which men to let in my life, visiting with you in San Diego, Santa Cruz, even Puget Sound (when I had to fib to Bryce), stories you’d write and let me read about the hobo and about your growth toward loving Becky and ultimately your wedding vows.

The list goes on and on. That’s what happens when you grow up together and have as much fun as we did together. I am so very proud of you, Colin.

You have become a caring, loving, strong man and you have found a woman for whom your love is a glow for all who see you together or hear you talk about each other. You are a confidante and a friend for me. Your love with Becky will continue to grow and change, as you so wisely said in your vows, and your happiness floods out from both of you. Thank you for being my wonderful, swell, imaginative, creative, thoughtful brother. And thank you for bringing Becky into our lives and our family.

I love you both so very much.

Always,



Shawna (Sis)