Wedding Toast From the Groom's Boss (Short, About 90 Seconds)

The speech

Hi, everyone. I'm Nerys. I own the landscaping company Lisandro has worked for since he was twenty-two, which makes me his boss, which is not a word he has ever used. "The person I report to" is as far as he will go.

I promised this would not be a work speech, so here is one thing from work.

For three years we did the yard of a widower on Birch Lane, eighties, who came out to the porch every Thursday to talk. Every Thursday, Lisandro turned off the mower, pulled off his gloves, and stood at the bottom of those steps for twenty minutes. Never rushed him. Never billed it. When the man died last spring, his daughter sent a card to the office, and it was not addressed to the company. It was addressed to Lisandro.

That is who he is. He turns off the mower.

Then Zora came to the picnic, and for the first time in six years I watched Lisandro be the one talking, at length, with his hands, while someone else stood still and listened.

Zora, you got him to talk. The rest of us have been trying for six years. Thank you.

Everybody, glasses up. To Lisandro and Zora. Turn off the mower.

Why it works: It keeps the promise not to be a work speech by picking one porch, one day of the week, and one card in the mail, then shows the change the partner made with a single picture.