Are you nervous?
Yes.
Okay.
Samantha, I just wanted to start off by saying
the incredible love that I have for you
can never be put into words.
But I'm gonna try my best.
When Sam was about three years old,
she'd get on my chest
and she'd always get my cheeks
just like this and she'd go,
"Daddy, I want forty boyfriends.
"Daddy, I want forty boyfriends."
Woo!
Did it.
Wow.
And them I would go back and forth,
to go no, you can't have any boyfriends,
you can't have any boyfriends.
And then she would just hold my cheeks together,
just like this, and go,
"Daddy, just one,
"just one boyfriend."
And I think she's done a really good job with Austin.
You can have one boyfriend, that's it, no more.
When I first met you in Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2010,
I don't think I realized that I was meeting my soulmate,
the love of my life, and my best friend.
I can't express how proud I feel to stand here today
and declare my love to you.
I'm not sure where to begin,
even though you have left me tongue-tied,
you've given words to feelings I didn't know existed.
It wasn't long after our first meeting
that I came to the conclusion
that you were the friendliest, most compassionate,
the most kind-hearted person on the planet.
Sam, at least in the eyes of any fourth grader in 2002
was the definition of cool.
She came into Henryetta hot,
with her chokers and her bold attitude.
And everyone was like,
"Wait, how can we be friends with her?"
It's a video.
It's a video, oh shit!
L-o-l!
Fourth grade hallway, this girl,
with about ten chokers wrapped around her neck,
walks up to me, and she looks me dead in the face and says,
"You Lori's friend?"
I'm like, "Yeah".
Turns and walks off.
I'm just assuming that there was some understanding
that we were going to be best friends for life,
'cos here we are!
I kept hearing these three girls names,
Lori, Courtney, Brady,
and, I want to tell you,
I've never seen four women
spend so much time together
and really enjoy each other's time.
And I want to thank all three of you
for making my daughter's life just spectacular.
I lived with Sam and Austin
and Jacob Moffat a few years post-college.
We all lived in a house together, it was a great time.
With a crazy, sitcom-style house,
some of my best memories are with you two,
as we just started getting our lives together.
And we would come home after work,
and we would sit,
and just have a thirty minute discussion about our days.
And one day Jacob and Austin go,
"Why do you all talk to each other after work?"
Like literally mesmerized that we were communicating.
It was one of my favorite times of the day.
Sam was a great listener, great advice giver.
She's the friend, that's there for you no matter what.
She will tell you like it is,
but always with love.
She's the one who remembers to text you,
"good luck" before an interview,
the one who's changing her community
in the most amazing way,
through advocacy and policy change.
So I'm gonna go ahead and be the first to say it,
future Mrs. President-of-the-United-States Higgs.
It's been my honor to serve as your right hand woman,
and Austin, you'll one heck of a first husband.
I think Austin has found the two great loves in his life.
One is teaching and coaching, which he is amazing at,
and the second one is Samantha.
Just an amazing relationship y'all are going to have.
You knew from the very moment you met him
and saw him with her, that that was something
that was going to be forever.
There was never a question of, "will they work out?"
It was just like, "Oh yeah, that's Sam and Austin,
meant to be together forever".
Oh, wow!
Oh man.
Wow!
Wow.
Wow. You look great.
You look great.
Oh God!
You gonna hug me?
A daughter is love in a bright pink bow,
a bundle of happiness all aglow.
A tomboy in jeans with a tear streaked face,
crying because she just won a race.
Then all of a sudden, no longer small.
She's a vision of loveliness, dressed for a ball.
A dreamer, a schemer, no two days the same.
What is a daughter, it's more than a name.
Dad, thanks for walking by me today and everyday.
I will always be your one and only blondie. Love you.
You're beautiful
Thank you.
Samantha Johnson Higgs.
Love you. Austin Higgs, love you very much.
Love you very much.
I'm just tryna. Just.
Let gravity...
Let gravity do its work!
You have shown me the power of patience, persistence,
and you have shown me how
to love fully, truly, and with all of myself.
You challenge me, you push me,
and you make me want to be my best self.
We've battled distances far and wide,
the European Shipping Rates,
Soul-sucking jobs, a fifty-pound boxer lab puppy,
grad school, and even each other,
from time to time.
In all sincerity, you're my one and my only true love.
When I look at you, I see a future that I'm not sure of,
but I can't wait to discover.
You're my best friend, you're beautiful,
courageous, inspiring, intelligent,
and I'm so proud to show you off to everybody as my wife.
Our journey is only just beginning.
I love you so much.
Sam and Austin, I've never been so sure
of a couple's rightness for each other.
You have honestly shown me what true love looks like,
you respect each other and you support each other,
and at the end of the day, you're each other's best friend.
May this love and friendship
continue to grow the rest of your lives.
I do proclaim that they are husband and wife.
You may kiss.
♪ ♪
♪ I got the spotlight ♪
♪ Shining on me no doubt about it ♪
♪ The night is mine, see, ♪
♪ I'm cutting up a rug, ♪
♪ There's a groove I found it. ♪
♪ I make you rock like, you could not believe ♪
♪ talk about a party ♪
♪ Now let's get crazy ♪
♪ amazing what you know about this. ♪
♪ I feel like dancing ♪
♪ This music moves my soul ♪
♪ No hesitation. ♪
♪ I feel like dancing, so ... ♪
♪ Turn it up! ♪
♪ You know I can't get enough! ♪
♪ Turn it up! ♪
♪ And now we 'bout to light it up ♪
♪ This place is jumpin' now ♪
♪ We bout to bring it down ♪
♪ Feel the rush! Feel the rush! ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Let's turn it up! ♪
♪ You know I can't get enough ♪
♪ Turn it up! ♪
♪ And now we're 'bout to light it up! ♪
♪ This place is jumpin' now ♪
♪ Show them how we break it down ♪
♪ Feel the rush! Feel the rush! ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Let's Turn it up! ♪
Whoo!
Did it!
Wow.