LOVE LETTER to Andy and Juli

I'll admit it: I'm a little sad today.

Missing my family in Virginia FIERCELY. With the intensity of 10,000 burning suns. Or something like that.

And then I just saw a post from my newest SIL, Juli Robbins Brocato, to my brother, Andy, full of love and fun.

I remembered who inspired my "Love Letters" series in the first place.

Andy and Juli got married April 30 after dating for almost 3 years. It was an inspirational wedding full of heartfelt touches. But THEN I found out they were reading LOVE LETTERS to each other during the ceremony.

I'll admit, my first thought was, "Oh jeez, if I have to sit through 20 minutes of 'you touched my heart' I'll vomit."
(OK, so my reaction wasn't that strong but I do tend toward a bit of hyperbole).

So Juli went first.

Read her letter to Andy.

SCREEEEEECHHHHHINNNGGGG HALT. I need to back up. There's important history here.

Andy...if I'm being honest, would probably have been voted the Least Likely To Share Feelings in our entire family.

But that's why their letters to each other were so touching.

I cried.

No. I BAWLED into my pewter napkin.

Juli read a letter to Andy which revealed she knew him better than she probably knows herself. I expected Juli's letter to be eloquent. And funny, and dramatic and touching and humorous and loving. Because that's Juli. She GLOWS, Juli is larger than life. She's gorgeous, she's passionate, she's funny, she's always the center of attention.

But I did NOT expect Andy's letter to Juli.

Andy read a letter to Juli that began with Andy's typical humor, "Can I just say ditto?"

I figured it would all go downhill from there.

But it didn't. Andy pretty much achieved the peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro with his letter.

The brother whom I'd never expected to HAVE a wife, let alone WOO a wife, let alone WRITE such a letter  blew me away. I  cried. No. I  BAWLED.

He wrote about how her free spirited opened up his conformity. He wrote about how her laughter cracked into his solemnity. He wrote about how all the things he'd never have tried, like opera or musical theater, enriched his life because she introduced him to it. He wrote about how the corporate 8-5 executive and the musical theater actress met and fell in love. He wrote about how her profession as a birth doula inspired him. He wrote about how she's as gorgeous all dressed up as she is wielding a  hammer doing home renovation projects impressed him.

All that impressed me. Inspired me. And made me believe that they WILL make it.

Love you guys!