Photo of the day: MINDY CASSEL & RAY ROSATO WED 6-16-2012 – My two dear friends Ray & Mindy are married one year today! Ray gave me the great  honor of asking me to be the best man at their wedding, which meant I had to deliver the toast. I worked and worked on my speech and decided to base it on the love story of an adopted Greek aunt of mine Aunt Grekorakis, ‘Aunt G’ for short. Here is my wedding toast:

“RAY ROSATO, I suspect,  was a grumpy old man before he was 30. He is the cantankerous old Jewish man on the corner, the Italian punk with attitude, a true cussing New Yorker, a great tour guide and comedian, and a dear friend.

I love Ray because of all these qualities, some say in spite of them 🙂 We met 5 years ago at Gray Line and it was instant “love”. The same was my affection for Mindy. She has this jubilant light inside, this child-like enthusiasm for everything she does. Bursting to do her best with this beaming smile. I fell in love with both of them.  Soon, I discovered Mindy is my neighbor, just 2 blocks away and that Ray would often come to stay with her. Poor Ray on the 7 train…….once Mindy and I started gabbing about something that upset her, or the theater, or work, the best Ray could do was to be able to interject with 3 phrases: uh-huh, I‘m listening, and (to either one of us) “yes dear“.

I mean all of this in the most loving way. If ever 2 people were meant to be together, it’s Ray and Mindy – just look in their eyes when they look at each other. It’s George Burns and Gracie Allen, Lunt & Fontaine, Bacardi & rum, ying and yang, Mork & Mindy, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Lucy and Ricky, peanut butter and jelly, Bogie and Bacall, Barney and Betty Rubble, cookies and milk.

But – There’s one couple they remind me of the most. . . Growing up, I had this adopted Greek aunt ‘Grekorakis’, aunt “G” for short. Imagine Lucille Ball with blonde poodle cut hair. She was a chain smoker, consistently blew smoke rings, which fascinated me! Wore 4 charm bracelets on each wrist, drank ouzo and simply was…divine! In 1964, at age 82, she met and fell in love with professor Ralph Harlow from Harvard. They were married the very next year. Their picture is right here! She wore a lace, almost see through wedding dress, danced on the tables in a Greenwich Village grotto at the reception and then they traveled around the world as she lovingly dotted on him.

So, at a very early age, I saw that love doesn’t come at the time and place you expect it to. But it does fatefully come when the time is right and your heart is hopefully open enough to know “it’s right”. Well, the time is right for Ray and Mindy. They fit. Their lives fit. They’re Aunt “G” and Ralph. They found each other when the time is right. How divine! So – A toast: To our bride and groom – Ray and Mindy Rosato! (I can’t believe I just said that!). To a safe, secure and happy future together! Lacheim, Salute and Cheers! I love you both!“