A toast from the oldest sister to the youngest…
My toast to Brooke & John at the reception — complete with a handy quiz. Feel free to play along at home!
As many of you are aware, Brooke is one of 5 children. But, before I begin my toast, I have a few Q&A’s for all of you….so, don’t be shy, if you know the answer, please yell it out:
1. As you all know, Brooke is a twin — which one is older, Heather or Brooke?
2. How many minutes apart were Heather and Brooke when born?
3. What is Brooke’s nickname, bestowed on her by her lovely, witty older sister Kristine when she was younger? (Beeker, after the character on the Muppet show)
4. Why was she given that nickname?
5. What was Brooke’s nickname inside the family for about the first 2 years of her life? (Pokerface, since you are reading this!)
6. One twin was dressed in blue for the first several years of their life, and one was dressed in pink. Which colour was Brooke dressed in?
So that has given some of you a bit more insight into the world of our Beeker. There is a great deal more I could share, but as Brooke’s cheque has cleared and is deposited in my bank account, I won’t.
Being the oldest in a family of 5 has its good points, and its bad ones. When I was younger, I think I thought there were more bad ones than good! But now, I know how incredibly lucky I am to have all my siblings, and how horrible my life would be with out all of them in it.
The amazing thing about Brooke — and, of course Heather — is that I was 9.5 years old when they were born. So while I remember being furious that Craig had the sheer audacity to be born on MY birthday (there were 364 other days he could have chosen!), and that I told everyone in Brooklyn that Alison was actually named Alice, I don’t remember as much of the every day of them being babies.
But with the twins, I remember pretty much everything. I remember that when I saw them right after they were born, Brooke had jaundice, which totally amazed me, because it was the first time I had ever seen a Kirby with anything close to resembling a tan. It was really quite remarkable.
I remember — and I am not sure if this was mom being frazzled at the thought of going from 3 kids to 5, that there was a time when she thought she might give Brooke the middle name of ‘Lynn’ and we had to get her to say Brooke and Lynn really fast and close together — not realizing one day David Beckham would name his child Brooklyn, and mom and dad would have been massive trendsetters saddling Brooke with the moniker of Brooke Lynn Kirby.
We called Brooke ‘Pokerface’ because she only really responded to mom. She looked at the rest of us like we were idiots when we tried to amuse her, but she saw mom and she lit up. And she used that Pokerface to good effect — when the twinables were old enough to be put in the playpen, we’d come back into the room, sometimes because we’d hear Heather crying, or there’d be some kind of noise, and find Heather a bit like Rocky in the middle of one of his films on the ropes, a bit bloody, a bit bruised and worse for the wear, but Brooke would be there standing or sitting and just giving you her Pokerface. It took us awhile, but we finally figured out Brooke was beating on Heather, and they had to be given separate playpens!
My all time favourite Brooke story — and I didn’t realize that as an adult she could still pull that pokerface — was when a few years ago she and I went on holiday in Croatia together. And in the midst of talking, drinking, watching the World Cup, getting sunburnt (that was only me), bonding, and more drinking, I told her the story about how she and Heather were a ‘mistake’, and she didn’t bat an eyelid — but as I learned about a week or so later when my mother called and yelled down the phone at me so loud she really didn’t need a phone to be heard across the Atlantic, that the twins hadn’t ever been told this! And as my mother asked, why had I told them, and they weren’t a mistake they were a ‘happy surprise!’ Clearly, Brooke’s pokerface was still in full operating order, and could be pulled out when needed.
I have to agree with my mom (and no, mom, I am not repeating that so you can get it on a recording), the twins were indeed a very happy surprise, and the perfect addition to round out our family.
When Brooke had asked me to be a bridesmaid and I brushed her aside saying I was too old, and I had retired after Heather’s wedding, I was joking originally when I said I would marry them. But then we talked about it, and it became clear I could, and I really wanted to — both as a gift, and — let’s face it — we all know the hidden subtitle (or Indian Name) of the Wedding Officiant is ‘one who is in charge’ and I am kind of good at being in charge. It is in the DNA of the oldest of five children.
And, somehow, it seemed right for the oldest Kirby girl to be marrying the youngest Kirby girl — to the best man I could imagine for Beeker. I know I haven’t spoken much about John, but I have never seen my sister so happy, so settled, so glowing, and so content. And that isn’t down to her job, or her siblings (as cool as we all are), but it is down to John. John has slotted into our family naturally, survived the riptide that is the Kirby’s with ease, and made my sister so very happy. And that is the thing I have always wanted Brooke to have — — out of all of us, she may deserve it the most, as she is so kind, loving, gentle and caring. She was just waiting for the right man to share her life’s journeys with, and she has found him.
It is truly one of the greatest honours of my life that Brooke & John asked and entrusted me to marry them today.
So, if everyone will please be upstanding and toast a lifetime of happiness to Brooke & John…
