Weddingbee Blog

In July, I found this post by Mrs. Candy Corn. She wrote about her ceremony reading—excerpts from Sandol Stoddard Warburg’s I Like You. By the end of the post, I was trying not to start boo-hooing. I thought it was sweet, lovely, and fit Mr. S and me perfectly. I added the book to my laundry list of things to get.

I looked for the book everywhere. Nobody had heard of it, and I think they thought I was batnuts crazy, to be honest. Why would I want this little ol’ children’s book written in 1965? I’d end up blabbering on about how fabulous it was, how I couldn’t read through the excerpts I’d read without crying, and other crazy things. I was a woman in love.

I finally got tired of being crazy to the salespeople at the different Borders, so I stopped being lazy and ordered it from Amazon. All $6.95 of it. It ended up being some of the best $6.95 I’ve spent. The entire book is even more lovely. I’d love to have the entire thing read, with maybe a few things cut for time.

Now, without further ado, here’re my favorite parts of the book.

I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

I like you,
And I know why.

I like you because
When I tell you something special,
You know it’s special,
And you remember it
A long, long time.

You say,
Remember when you told me
Something special?

And both of us remember.

When I think something is important,
You think it’s important too.

We have good ideas.

When I say something funny,
You laugh.
I think I’m funny and
You think I’m funny too.

You know how to be silly.
That’s why I like you.
Boy are you ever silly.
I never met anybody sillier than me til I met you.

I like you because
You know when it’s time to stop being silly.

Maybe day after tomorrow.
Maybe never.

And I like you because
If we go away together,
And if we are in Grand Central Station,
And if I get lost,
Then you are the one that is yelling for me.

And I like you because
When I am feeling sad,
You don’t always cheer me up right away.
Sometimes it is better to be sad.
You can’t stand the others being so googly and gaggly every single minute.
You want to think about things.
It takes time.

I like you because if I am mad at you,
Then you are mad at me too.
It’s awful when the other person isn’t.
They are so nice and hoo-hoo and you could just about punch them in the nose.

If you find two four-leaf clovers,
You give me one.
If I find four,
I give you two.
If we only find three,
We keep on looking.
Sometimes we have good luck,
And sometimes we don’t.

I like you because
I don’t know why, but
Everything that happens
Is nicer with you.

I can’t remember when I didn’t like you.

It must have been lonesome then.

I like you because, because, because…
I forget why I like you,
But I do.
So many reasons.

On the Fourth of July,
I like you because
It’s the Fourth of July.
On the Fifth of July,
I like you too.

If you and I had some drums
And some horns and some horses,
If we had some hats and some
Flags and some fire engines,
We could be a HOLIDAY!
We could be a CELEBRATION!
We could be a WHOLE PARADE!
See what I mean?

Even if it was the nine hundred and ninety-ninth of July,
Even if it was August,
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November,
Even if it was no place particular in January,

I would go on choosing you,
And you would go on choosing me,
Over and over again.

That’s how it would happen every time.
I don’t know why.

I guess I don’t know why I like you, really.
Why do I like you?

I guess I just like you,

Because I like you.

*All Photos by Me!

We are having this read at our ceremony, and I have no idea how I will be able to hold back the waterworks during it. It’s so fitting, so simple, and so true.

I really do cry, even now, every time I read it.

Did you fall in love with a particular reading really early on in your wedding-planning process? Also, who else fell in love with this book the second they read it, either here, in person, or via Mrs. Candy Corn?