Bringing America to England

When I was 16, I was introduced to a sport called disc golf by two friends named Dan Guzman and Paul Johnson. Disc golf quickly turned into my favorite sport, and I’ve spent countless hours over the years playing disc golf at courses in Illinois, Iowa, California, Arizona and now….England. There’s only one disc golf course in all of the UK. It’s 25 miles south of London in a park called Lloyd Park.

An old British man was walking his dog on the course while I was playing, and said “Nice shot” when I threw my drive on #3. “What’s this called? Disco golf, right?” he said.

I also introduced “bros icing bros” to some of friends I made in London. One guy really picked up on it, and proceeded to ice me 8 times in the span of about 4 hours. He even iced me at an upscale restaurant and I had to drink Smirnoff Ice out of a straw. I’m not a big icing guy when I’m in The States, but something about being the first to introduce it to a big group of people in another country seemed appealing. We’ll see if it catches on.

Kathryn & TC's Wedding

Marc's wedding toast:

Y'know, I'm probably the happiest guy in this room tonight. Because my only sister just married my best friend. And I didn't always feel this way, in fact, when TC took me out for a drink while we were in college at The University of Iowa and said, "Marc, I've been dating Kathryn", I said, "You've been what?!". But I now realize that it's pretty special, pretty amazing..and I'm pretty lucky.

Kathryn and I had a lot of great times growing up together in Naperville. I remember back to the early days of dancing around in our family room listening to Michael Jackson albums, wearing oversized t-shirts and no pants, Kathryn hanging on my shoulder and forcing me to listen to her sing "Thriller" over and over. And for those of you that have heard Kathryn sing, you know how much fun that is.

Kathryn and I were very fortunate growing up because our parents took us on some spectacular vacations to exotic locations like Wisconsin, Missouri and Houston. And Kathryn had a knack for getting under my skin on those roadtrips. She would come up with little songs about me, one was called "You Little Runt" and it went like this: "You little runt-t-t, you little runt-t-t, you little runt-t-t". Just imagine listening to that for an 18 consecutive hour drive back from Houston, fun stuff.

But flash forward 15 years and Kathryn came out to visit me in California last summer and we could not have had more fun together. And when she left I sat back and thought: now there goes a talented, intelligent, beautiful young woman and I could not be more proud to say that she is my little sister.

Now, TC and I go back a long way too, in fact, TC and I spent the better half of our adolescence running around Naperville together causing trouble. And the thing I've always loved about TC is his uncanny ability to make every situation fun. Literally some of the best times of my life have been spent with TC doing things like hanging out at a gas station, shopping for hair dye or walking around a neighborhood aimlessly from 2:00 - 5:00am.

And I'm so happy that Kathryn has realized the same thing about TC so she can share those same experiences with him for the rest of her life.

When I got back to Naperville earlier this week, I was looking through a box of old papers from my days at Jefferson Junior High where TC and I went to school, and I came across this assignment I had been given in 6th grade to write a brief paper about my best friend at Jefferson. I thought this would be appropriate to share today, so here's the paper I wrote:

My best friend at Jefferson is TC Jackson. TC likes music, sports and girls, just like me. He is known as the best three point shooter at Jefferson. He has a weird shot, but it always goes in and the girls are always impressed. When I met him, I thought he grew up in Cabrini Green because his name is Terrance, he wears an earring, he rolls up one of his pant legs and he watches BET every time I'm at his house. But he actually grew up in Naperville.

I like going over to TC's house because his sister Shana is hot, even though she does yell a lot. His parents are just like mine. His Dad is the classic golf Dad and his Mom makes a mean meatloaf.

His brother Teddy is a pretty cool guy. He has a lot of cool sayings. For example, instead of saying "I'm hanging out" he'll say "I'm maxin' and relaxin'." You would think he grew up in Hawaii, but he grew up in Naperville, too.

TC and I have a cool group of friends at Jefferson. We like going over to our friend Billy's house because it's like an amusement park; he has a trampoline in his front yard, a go cart, and all of the kids on his block are always lighting off fireworks and firing bebe guns at each other. We have another friend named Ben who has an awesome music collection and a beard. You wouldn't think it would be possible to grow a beard in junior high, but Ben can do it.

My favorite thing about TC is his sense of humor. We could have fun doing anything together. I wouldn't mind marrying his sister and joining his family someday.

In conclusion, TC is my best friend and I know we'll be friends forever.

So we've had these great experiences together and now here we are at this amazing wedding. And I mentioned to my Mom a couple weeks ago, I said, "Mom, you know, this wedding is really like the Superbowl of the Hatfield family" and she was like "Yeah, you're right." We have all of our friends and family here, Kathryn is the second of the 32 cousins on my Mom's side to get married, and we're so close to the Jacksons and their family, I mean, this is just like the Superbowl. And I realized..that my family is just like the New England Patriots.

My Dad and Mom are a lot like Robert Craft and Bill Belichek. My Dad's like Robert Craft, he's the owner of the team, he's sitting up in his skybox, but we all know who's really in charge, my Mom, the coach, Bill Belichek.

Now we all know TC is the golden boy with the golden arm, he's the guy that everyone loves, he's got the money, the fame, the talent, he's just like Tom Brady. But just like Tom Brady, there have got to be those nights when TC gets into bed, lays his head down on the pillow and thinks to himself..."How the hell did I pull this off?" And no one knows, but the fact is that he did.

And then there's Kathryn. She has got the talent, the beauty, the money, the guy (though she doesn't really need him), women all over the world aspire to be like her, she's just like Giselle. But just like Giselle, there have got to be those nights where Kathryn gets into bed, lays her head down on the pillow and thinks to herself.."How the hell did he pull this off?" And no one knows, but the fact is that he did, and that's what we're here to celebrate today.

So Kathryn and TC, you are two of the most important people in my life, I love you both and am so happy that you're spending the rest of your lives together, and hope you guys are ready because we're going to have a lot of amazing times in the future. And TC, you hit the jackpot man, you get to play golf with my Dad for the rest of your life, my Mom is always going to ask you insightful questions when you come over which will make you feel like you're on a Barbara Walters Special, you get to rock out with John which is everyone's dream, and you got me, who's always up for a late night walk through a neighborhood.

So here's to TC and Kathryn, a life full of happiness, superbowl trophies and red carpet events. Cheers.

- Marc

Now, just to put into context how sick this wedding was, check out the flower girl. When was the last time you saw a flower girl that has rhythm like this?

Meatball's Last Day of Freedom

TC's last day as a bachelor was a walk down memory lane through some of the familiar places where he's made his mark on Naperville / Lisle. The day started with a 3-on-3 bball game at Seven Bridges, the site of the massively popular 5-on-5 tournaments in high school which have become legendary. From there we snuck into an apartment pool for a quick dip and an intense holding breath underwater competition. Next was the highlight of the day, what would be the highlight of any day: lunch at El Burrito Mexicano. We then went over to Soham's for an Underfunded reunion acoustic jam session. The day ended with a surreal trip to try on our tuxes at Scab's buddy's shop: Lorenzos.

Parker Mesa Overlook

Music City USA for Meatball's B Party

When I was 12 years old, I met a kid at Jefferson Jr. High named T.C. Jackson. T.C. loved rock n' roll, sports and girls, just like me. He had an earring and liked wearing gym shirts out on weekends.

We started hanging out and listening to Led Zeppelin, walking around neighborhoods for hours on end and writing music about girls from school.

T.C. and my sister Kathryn fell in love and got married in July. His bachelor party was in Nashville - or Nashvegas, as some people call it.

I've come to truly appreciate the moments in my life that belong as a scene in a movie. In Nashville I experienced two of those moments. Billy and I were walking back from getting pizza and the sky quickly changed color, opened up and rained harder than I can ever remember experiencing, with thunder so loud that it rattled our bones. We ran to a building entrance with a small overhang, smoked a couple cigs, talked about where flys go when it rains and watched the rain crash down on an empty parking lot in Nashville. A perfect scene.

The following morning following an all-night bender, I watched the sun come up over the Nashville skyline with Davit, Billy, TC and McNees, our arms around each other, pants at our ankles, singing "The Sweater Song" by Weezer, in an empty courtyard in downtown Nashville surrounded by historic buildings. Then Davit, Billy and I stumbled around town looking for breakfast as the sun climbed higher and the residents of Nashville woke up with a hangover from another crazy Saturday night. "This feels like a movie," Davit mentioned as we slowly staggered across what would normally be a bustling street during daytime hours. How right he was.