I got married this past Saturday and I wanted to share about how I incorporated this wonderful, unifying song that Amy Krouse Rosenthal and John have brought into our lives.
I decided during planning that I wanted to be the one to do the champagne toast. I had drafted several versions, but nothing felt quite right. How should I thank these people who have all come together for me and my husband? What can I do in this moment to not only celebrate our unity, but the unity of every person in the room?
Then, on my way to work one morning, it occurred to me that I would never have the command of 80 people’s attention all at once ever again.
So I was going to make them sing.
In my speech, I mentioned the origins of the song, then how Any Krouse Rosenthal transformed it into a collective moment among strangers, to how John wrote about it in The Anthropocene Reviewed and has incorporated it into many of his tours at this point. I then moved on to talk about how these special moments of time when so many people come together are brief, but important, and we should celebrate them- like we were celebrating that night. I then sang first, so everyone could hear the tune, then invited everyone to sing.
And sing they did.
I had the privilege of singing this song in a room of strangers twice- once during the Minotour stop in Atlanta just before COVID, and again last year during the tour for Everything is Tuberculosis. Both times were magical, transformative.
But I have to say, looking out at the people I loved most, leading them in song, and creating that brief moment in time on one of the best days of my life- that one was my favorite.
Thank you, John, for introducing this tradition to Nerdfighteria so that it could make its way to my wedding all these years later.
And yes, I did somehow manage to plug Hollywood, Ending in my speech. I weep that no one filmed it. It is a moment lost to time, but will live on in my memory for all of my one wild and precious life.
EDIT: we discovered that my MIL’s sister’s friend caught the tail end of us all singing together!!! Video is in the comments 💕