Speech for christening – examples and inspiration

Henry, I sat in the hospital waiting room the night you were born, with a cup of vending-machine coffee I never actually drank and my phone in my hand, waiting for a message that wouldn't come fast enough. It was some hour deep in the night, I'd completely lost track, and every time a door opened down the corridor I half stood up, as if it might be you.

Your mum, Sarah, had asked me to come, not because I was needed in the delivery room, but because she didn't want to sit alone with the waiting while your dad was in there with her. So we sat there, the two of us, in that strange quiet that only exists in a hospital late at night, talking about nothing in particular, just to make the hours pass a little faster.

When the midwife finally came out and said it was a boy, and that everyone was well, I felt something I hadn't expected to feel for a child who wasn't even mine. I hadn't seen you yet, hadn't held you, hadn't even heard you cry — and still I stood there in tears, as if I already knew you.

That's why it makes such sense to me to stand here today and promise to be part of your life, Henry — because I already was, long before you had any idea I existed. I've followed you ever since, from your first trip through the airport in a car seat, to the day you finally worked out how to hold a spoon.

— Christening speech, godparent