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The best speech I’ve ever not heard.


My brother’s wedding on Saturday was your typical Norwegian wedding with different contributions to honour the bride and groom and “only” 12 speeches. We started at 4 pm and ended at 2 am (which is the “normal” time for a Norwegian wedding to end). 

The definite highlight of the evening was my brother’s speech to his bride. Although I do question whether or not it can be called a speech, as that implies that something has to be spoken, and there were no spoken words. Only written ones. But then I guess you could claim that the speech was “spoken” through the written word. Anyway, my brother had made power point presentation expressing everything he wanted to say and “said” it with style in 8 minutes. It’s the way to go if you don’t like speaking in front of people, yet find yourself in a situation where you don’t really have an option.

We were laughing so much many tears were shed in the process, and I don’t think any of us will ever forget this speech. It truly was the best speech I’ve ever not heard.

It was special and good to be here for that special occasion. Having time to spend with my little nieces and nephew has been priceless! And now I’m sat here, headed off to the airport in a couple of hours to fly back to Amsterdam. Back to the challenge and journey of leading the Lighthouse. I’m a tad daunted, but also excited to see how it’s all going to work out.

And seems the weather is better in Amsterdam, so maybe I’ll get a bit of the “summer” feel also.

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