My Son's Wedding Speech About Me

I wasn't expecting to cry at my son's wedding. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be during his speech, when he started talking about me.

He told everyone about the Saturday mornings when he was small and I'd make him "mystery pancakes" with whatever we had in the fridge, including, once, a very regrettable batch with pickles. He told them I taught him to change a tire, to write thank-you notes and to dance badly with confidence.

Then he said, "My dad showed me what it looks like to love someone every day, in small ways." He looked at me, and his new wife squeezed his hand.

Two hundred people turned to look at me, and I was crying into a cloth napkin. Afterwards, he came over and hugged me. "No pickles at the reception, I promise," he said. I've never laughed and cried at the same time so hard in my life.