Some of my absolute favourite memories growing up took place in my parents bedroom, with 5 people gathered around the room in various places, laughing hysterically. Although the majority of the reasons for such belly aching hilarity will probably forever remain a mystery to me, the memories will never be diminished. I love to laugh with my family, it has always and will always be a favourite pastime of mine.
My dad, Kribby, mentioned to me a few days ago that someone close to him had expressed an admiring, innocent envy of the close relationship that my dad had with his kids. My dad’s friend commented on the numerous nicknames and inside jokes which we shared with each other and the joking and chatting that we constantly engaged in with one another. It warmed my heart to know that our close friendship and love for each other showed, but it also made me realize how lucky I was to have said friendships with all of my family members. I can genuinely say that I love spending time with each member of my family, all for different reasons; each of my mom, dad, sister, brother, and now sister-in-law bring unique, special, and important things to my friendship with them that I appreciate more than I could ever express. We each have things that we enjoy doing with each other the most, specialized and specific to our friendship, but truly, in the end, the activity doesn’t matter as long as we’re all together: doing dishes has definitely never been my favourite chore, however, when we’re all cleaning up together, there’s always laughter in the air, and a skip in my step.
This past weekend, my close family grew, and we gained one additional best friend. Bethany and Jack were married on the 28th of July, completing a match made in heaven. Although the two have known each other for many years, I did not meet her until 7ish months ago. I liked her immediately, and not only because of how happy she made my brother. Jack’s constant chatter about her life and her gorgeous looks and sing song laugh and glowing smile and easy going nature was quite adorable to see. Him and I have always been quite close with each other, but this year in particular, for the few months that he was living at home, we became even closer. Almost every night I could count on him to come up to my room and successfully distract me from my homework with stories from his day, and admiring words about Bethany. I loved hearing about her and was always so excited when, upon his return from a weekend in Calgary with her, he would run up to my room and tell me more. I loved the two together right from the beginning, and I remember the joy and excitement that I felt the day that he told me that they planned on being married. I was overjoyed, and quite speechless too. She made him so happy, and they were so in love. He ended that conversation with something like, “Wow… I have been wanting to tell you this for a while but we agreed to keep it between ourselves.” I finally understood why the late night chats had become less frequent — he could barely hold in his excitement and he didn’t want to share the news until they were both ready.
When I started to hang out with Bethany more, I began to realize how alike we were, and how easily we got along! It truly seemed like we similar in the craziest ways but one in particular stood out: Bethany loved to laugh and had a wonderful sense of humour. Immediately, I knew that her sense of humour would help her fit right into the family. (As if she actually needed an extra way… she was already perfect!) There haven’t been an immensely large amount of times that we, all 6, have all been together, but a fair few of the times that we have, have eventually resulted in all of our favourite pastime: belly laughing with our best friends. In fact, our most recent attack of laughter was caught on camera, as we stood outside the temple, less than an hour after the matrimony:
The sun shone down from heaven, as we all chuckled and giggled at whatever was funny in the moment. The beautiful bride, and the beaming groom, surrounded by love and support, and laughter. I am so excited and happy to be able to now have Bethany as part of our best friend group — our family. I love her and I love Jack and her together, and I cannot wait to see where their future takes them. I now have not one, but two examples of what marriage should be in my immediate family.
Whoever said laughter is the best medicine was absolutely correct, but laughter with family is that much better.
xo
Emma
Emma Dietze 