Chemistry and Romance - excerpt from my wedding speech

I've asked for article suggestions on Twitter, and one friend asked me to write a little more about myself. I declined - people who have time to blog and talk to street preachers are rarely interesting in and of themselves - but it did remind me that there was something personal I wanted to share.

It's an excerpt from my wedding speech. The whole thing's about ten minutes long, but given that you won't know the parties involved I've trimmed considerably.

Writing a groom's speech can be tough. Public speaking and writing more than 160 characters are not as common as they once were. Men in general do not discuss their feelings. There is a perceived but wholly inaccurate barrier between atheism and wonder. I'm sure all grooms of all faith positions stare at blank sheets of paper for considerable time, but when you get the opportunity to stand up in front of a packed room and loudly declare your love it's all worth it.


If you're writing your own groom speech you have my congratulations. I hope in some small way this helps encourage you.

Best,
Geoff

The economy is not what it once was, and I’m beginning to suspect the bribes I’ve given to my best men won’t prevent a few embarrassing stories. Perhaps I can soften their blows by thanking them for their patience over the past year? Planning a wedding can be a stressful event and they’ve born my occasional bouts of irrationality with good humour. Darragh sat next to me as we enrolled for college; we’ve been firm friends ever since. Eoin has known me for over a quarter of a century and has rich and ample material concerning my school years. He sat next to me when we enrolled for primary school. Among other tales he can tell you of both times I caused the chemistry lab to be evacuated. I learn best by doing, and after these impromptu experiments I understood that some chemicals will quite happily remain inert and unreactive until a catalyst is added. These helper chemicals will speed up reactions by a factor of thousands, causing heat, light, explosions, and having some influence on Eoin’s residual cough.
Later, in the safer confines of the biology class, I learned that the cells in our bodies are packed with chemicals. Much like in my brief chemistry career they are jumbled together, but wait for the introduction of a catalyst, or enzyme in this case, to unlock potential.

Later still, I met a girl from Mayo, and discovered to my surprise that there was quite a lot jumbled up inside me. Sparks flew. There was heat, and light. Eoin, out of habit, dived for cover. Somewhere deep inside me, something dormant awoke. My capacity for happiness increased a thousand fold. The reaction shot through me, and I learned I preferred my new, changed state.

It is not enough to say you make me happy. You make me understand what happiness is. It is insufficient to say that I love you. You have given me the capacity to love completely. It’s an irreversible reaction. I am yours forever.