Speech by Michael Sue

Speech Type: Best man
Speech Creator: Michael Sue
Speech Date: oct 2004
Scott, marriage is an excellent experience and I'm really happy for you and Melissa.. In fact, my own parents have been happily married for ten years, and ten out of thirty isn't bad!

You know, when Scott first told his Dad that he was getting married, like any son, he asked his Dad for some advice and what should be the first thing he should do. Immediately, his dad said that you have to put your foot down like he himself had done and let your wife know who the boss is. He said, “Scott, when I married your mom, five minutes right after the ceremony, I looked her right in the eye and said, “You're the boss!”

Scott then asked his dad what happens if he and Melissa should ever fight. His dad replied, “Your mom and I never go to bed mad. We stay up until the problem is resolved. Last year we didn't get to sleep until March!

Seriously though, when Scott first told me that he was getting married to Melissa, I was immediately carried back to the date when Scott and Melissa had first met each other, which was at our friend, Kiran's, wedding reception. Like Scott, we had known Kiran since high school, and at the reception, I remember all of us were talking in a circle in the lobby about what kind of speech we should give Kiran and we were trying to think of some of the funny moments we had all experienced with Kiran growing up. We came up with some pretty good material, but the more we talked and reminisced, the more our talk and memories of embarrassing / funny moments revolved more around Scott. In fact, we came up with so many stories that we all found ourselves saying that once Scott got married, we would definitely have some good stories to tell. And so here we are today. Funny how things happen, huh?

I have known Scott since freshman year in junior high and Melissa, as you know by now, you're marrying a very interesting and unique man. For one thing, I hope you're a Star Wars fan, b/c Scott is probably numero uno. When he was in high school, every time he turned on a computer and waited for it to boot up, he would say outloud, “This deathstar is fully operational.”

In fact, in high school, when Scott and I were on the debate team together, he had brought a big boom box with him to one of our tournaments, and at the awards ceremony, whenever a member of our team would win and would go up to the stage to accept their award, he would turn up the boom box, hit play on the cassette deck, and play the theme from Empire Strikes Back.

But Scott is also a very focused and determined individual. And once he's involved with an activity, he devotes 100% of his attention to it. When we were in college, we had all piled into a mini van to drive to Mall of America for Spring Break. And Scott had been driving so fast and was so intent on getting to the mall, that when he drove up to the toll booth, instead of dropping the change into the booth, he zoomed past the toll booth and dropped it into the adjacent round metal garbage can instead and then just sat there wondering why the gate wasn't moving.

On another road trip, we were all sitting around the hotel room playing pinochle and Scott had accidentally bumped into a lamp and Scott, ever the gentleman, not paying attention responded ever-so-politely, “Oh, excuse me.” Melissa, you're marrying a very polite and well-mannered man b/c he actually said excuse me to the lamp!

And Scott might not look it, but he can eat with the best of them. In fact, in high school and college we used to call him the Machine because of how fast and much he could eat. Back in our town of Naperville, where we had all grown up, there was this little restaurant called Colonial and its specialty was ice cream. And they had this dish called the kitchen sink, which would basically be a small dish shaped like a kitchen sink, with about 15 different scoops of ice cream. The catch at this place was that b/c there was so much ice cream in the dish, if somebody finished it, they would get a bumper sticker that said, “I finished off a kitchen sink at Colonial.” Well, believe it or not folks, Baldwin here has like 15 of these bumper stickers hanging on a wall somewhere. Scott, you will always be the Machine to me, though I guess I'll have to call you Dr. Machine now.

But all kidding aside, I must say that Baldwin has become an upstanding citizen, a caring and skilled doctor, a good friend, and I'm sure he'll be a loving husband. Congratulations Scott and Melissa!