My Brother's Wedding Toast in Sign Language

My younger brother is Deaf, and at my wedding this year he gave a toast in American Sign Language, with our cousin interpreting out loud.

He told everyone about the time we got lost at a state fair when we were kids and I held his hand for three hours until we found our parents. He told them I'd learned to sign before anyone else in our family, when I was seven, so he'd have someone to talk to at night.

The room was completely silent. Then my new husband stood up and signed something back to him that he'd been secretly learning for months: "Thank you for letting me be your brother too."

My brother stared at him, then crossed the room and hugged him. Two hundred people stood and clapped. Some of them clapped in sign, hands waving in the air, the way my brother taught us. It was the most beautiful moment of the whole day.