Dear friends, relatives and new acquaintances, greetings to you all. Ron and I are grateful that you are all with us to enjoy this celebration for Nate and Tay. We especially want to thank Tay’s parents, her sister, and her uncle for traveling such a great distance to celebrate Nate and Tay’s commitment to each other.
To Tay’s parents, we want to express our appreciation for raising such a beautiful, thoughtful, and smart daughter. And for also encouraging her pursuit of her dreams in the U.S.
She was welcomed into our family the first time when we met her almost four years ago. I remember the day clearly. It was a beautiful July day in Bayfield, Wisconsin. Nate had announced a few weeks earlier that he was bringing someone special to meet us at our cabin home. My brother and his wife were visiting us, and we were eating dinner at our favorite restaurant that evening. Suddenly there was an attractive young woman walking in front of the window, with Nate trailing behind. She was laughing and seemed very confident. My sister-in-law and I just looked at each other and said...”WOW!”. My brother, who is never one to be at loss for words, enticed Tay to try licorice flavored ice cream that he had ordered for dessert. Tay had never eaten licorice before, which seems like one of those things one would either love or hate. She opened her mouth, and he stuck a large spoonful of ice cream into it. She was laughing and said it was the best ice cream she had ever eaten. At that point, we knew then that she was a keeper.
They were married in Salem, Oregon two weeks later.
My task here is to tell stories of Nate, and the history of his life that has brought him to this moment. Nate has many great qualities, but I want to point out only a few of them.
He is a most agreeable and thoughtful person. This quality was noted on the day he was born. On that day, I was taking a tour of the obstetrics area at our local hospital with Nate’s older brother, Nick, when Nate decided it was a convenient time and place to enter the world.
That convenient time was July 15, 1988. The doctor barely got there to catch him.
Nate grew up in a small town in NE Iowa. He walked to school and played with the local neighbor kids. He would often find stray cats to adopt, and he would play in the wooded area behind our house. Nate also had a wonderful day care provider, who I give credit to for doing such a good job caring for him. It is at the daycare where he met a little redheaded boy, Elliott, who became his long time friend and he is here today.
Nate was and is still a lover of books, art, travel, and music.
Nate also enjoyed sports, especially basketball. He was tall for his age; and he played league basketball with his friends. There is one skill he was honored for and that was sportsmanship. He routinely won the team sportsmanship award.
This trait of thoughtfulness and altruism for others developed, and was notable when he was in high school.
During high school he recognized that a health teacher was falsely providing information about a very controversial issue, and it most likely could cause anguish to others in the class. He discussed his concerns with his Dad, and a plan was made that he would have to approach the high school principal with the problem. If it was not rectified at that level, he would have to take it to the Superintendent of schools. Luckily for Nate, the principal did solve the problem, and that class curriculum was changed.
Nate also demonstrated resilience as a child. It probably helped that he grew up with an older brother. In Nate’s senior year of high school, he was struggling with Spanish, and I believe the only way he successfully passed the class was a deal he brokered with the instructor. If he would complete a large mural of a Spanish warrior for her class room, she would give him a passing grade. He worked for hours on the floor in the garage on the mural. Mission accomplished! He passed!
He also completed his studies at the University of Iowa, even though he struggled to focus and choose a field of endeavor. A year after he graduated he went on to apply for pharmacy school. He graduated with honors. He successfully completed his pharmacy residency program in Salem, Oregon.
Nate, came up with some other plans during his residency. Most notably, he met Tay.
Nate, we have enjoyed our family time over the years. We took many great trips into some wonderful places and have many happy memories of camping along the North shore of Lake Superior. We also had simple family times with family gatherings, eating popcorn in front of the Sunday evening TV, playing games, swimming in the backyard and eating a boundless supply of chocolate chip cookies.
All of our thoughts are for Nate and Tay to continue their journey together making their own stories to nurture their lives.
I want to thank you again for coming today and sharing your time with us as we make more memories and connections.