Bilingual Wedding Toast from the Bride's Sister (Heartfelt, 3 Minutes)

The speech

Good evening. I'm Oriana, the older sister, by four years, which Eulalia will tell you does not count anymore and I will tell you counts forever.

When I left for college in Ohio, Eulalia was fourteen. We were close, but we were sisters, so we had never once said so. I figured I would get a text a month. What I got was a letter. Paper, in the mail, the first Friday I was gone. It had a number in the top corner, "1." It had one thing about her week and one thing the dog had done. The next Friday there was a "2."

She sent fifty-two. Every Friday for a year, without missing, including the week she had the flu, when the letter was two sentences long and the dog had eaten a sock. I still have them, in a shoebox, in order. She has never asked if I kept them. She just kept writing until I came home.

That is my sister. She does not say the big thing. She does the small thing fifty-two times until you understand.

So when she met Lazlo, I watched for the small things, and they came fast. Three weeks in, she had a notebook with every name in his family in it, who belonged to whom, and his grandmother's birthday, underlined. She practiced "mucho gusto" in my kitchen until it sounded like her. And the first Sunday she went to his mother's house for dinner, she came home and told me, without my asking, that she had never been so sure of anything, and then she changed the subject, which for Eulalia is the same as saying it twice.

A few words for Lazlo's family, because I know who is sitting at those two tables.

Kalinda, y toda la familia de Lazlo: gracias. Gracias por venir, y gracias por él. Thank you for being here, and thank you for him. Lo criaron bien. You raised him well. My sister noticed. She notices everything, and she wrote it down.

Lazlo, you married the person who writes the letters. I hope you know what that means. It means you will never once have to wonder. Y ahora, mi hermana es tu familia, y tú eres la nuestra. My sister is your family now, and you are ours. We are loud, and we eat late. You will be fine.

Everybody, glasses up. Salud. To Eulalia and Lazlo. Letter number one, with many more to come.

Why it works: The Spanish is short, simple, and aimed at specific people, and every line is followed by its English without announcing a translation. The story about the numbered letters sets up both the welcome and the toast.