The Nick Speech
Thank you all for being here today to celebrate Nick and Carol’s big day.
My name is Casey, and I am Nick’s best man, though he has til this moment never directly informed me I was. Nor did he directly tell me I’ll be a groomsman. In February he just said “by the way we’re all wearing grey” and I was confused thinking what kind of wedding has guests with a dress code. Then two weeks ago he texted me saying “how’s the speech coming along? Btw, did I tell you you’re doing a speech?”
But that’s just how Nick and my relationship has always been, spontaneous, on the fly, unexpected.
Just like how we met 17 years ago when we were both volunteering for a non profit in Chinatown called Cameron House and we were on a retreat 2 hours up north from San Francisco. While the rest of the guys in our group were spitting sunflower seeds into each other’s mouths, I was crying over a girl per usual. I went back to our cabin to not feel embarrassed, I got in and turned the lights off and got into the bunk.
Then I heard a voice from the corner of the cabin going “hey man, are you alright?” Turns out nick was doing summer hw and I had just turned the lights off on him and made the situation awkward. Getting ready for nick to laugh at me, instead Nick asked if everything was okay and what happened. And somehow we ended up going on a hike to talk life and relationships and became really good friends from that moment.
We spent countless of weekends of him coming out to San Francisco, or I go out to Hayward and just spent a lot of time talking life and love and after a shot, Nick would go night night and I’d tuck him in and kiss him on the forehead. But what we mostly did was find new places to eat. Nick even showed me one of the best cafes in Hayward called Sisis cafe that had the best white sauce fish plate. And every time I go out to Hayward I’d ask Nick to eat there.
But eventually he found his own C C, Carol Cen, then the trips back and forth became less frequent. Then nick traded in sourdough jacks and 2 tacos for a5 wagyu steak with carol. Our coors light and plastic bottle brandys turned to 100 year old wine. And I saw nick had changed on me. I wasn’t upset that Nick and I didn’t hang out as much, but more at the fact that now every time I hung with Nick I knew I’d be dropping $50-$100 on a meal. I was broke nick I hated it,
But I loved seeing how Carol make Nick a better man and partner. She would call him out on bullshit and make some awesome food. And I saw nick spoke more Chinese more than ever. Til that point, Nick has never talked about marriage in his life until Carol entered his.
As I learned more about Carol, I found we had a lot in common. Like we both went to Lincoln high school, both were involved in the academy of art university, and we both entered nicks life accidentally, but at least I wasn’t on the toilet for mine.
Carol, it’s been so great to become your friend and see how much you and Nick do for each other. Thank you for helping me practice my Chinese and sending me Asian recipes while I’m in oregon. I look forward to continuing to celebrate you both and working out together because Carol and I are now zoom work out buddies. If you think Nick loves you now, wait until you grow some wrinkles and become a paw paw.
Nick, I love you brother, you’ve been at my highest highs and lowest lows. And I’m excited to see where this next journey takes you two.
Let us raise a glass.
To my friend Nick, and his wife Carol.
Thank you for trusting me to put sentences together. Though I blacked out for the speech, I hope it was coherent enough, here’s what I wrote in an empty theater then rewrote in the car 30 minutes before the reception. To the guys who helped form my words (Aaron, Steffon, Marcus and more). Thank you.
