Dear Teddy,

This is Wedding Week for you, so you are probably not going to read this, but that’s OK. One day you will and then you can thank me. No hurry.

I went to Barnes & Noble to try to find the Guide For Stepfathers of the Bride, but they were all out. So just take it from a guy who has literally been on both sides of the aisle.

So far, so good, my friend. You have kept your head down, said yes to almost any suggestion that is disguised as a question and left the checkbook within an arm’s length at all times. That’s good work.

To be honest, the hard part is done. Now you are just playing on raw emotion, like they do in the Ryder Cup. Anything goes in Wedding Week. Somebody break a shoelace and you’d think the Earth might as well have stopped rotating. You never know. Stay loose.

You’re like the #2 quarterback on an NFL roster — we are probably not going to need you, but you damn sure better be ready if we do because there are going to be all sorts of questions asked later that you’ll have to answer.

Everyone worries about things going wrong, but even if it does, it always gets fixed. And/or makes for a great story years later.

But most of all, enjoy it. And you will. Lots of people who you love are going to be really, really happy. Take a moment for yourself, though. Let it all soak in.

You’re in the homestretch, pal. As you would say, Ready, Break!

Within the past two weeks, an alert popped on my phone via The (Shreveport) Times — I love an alert — telling me that a longtime local sandwich business in Shreveport was closing and selling the business.

Immediate panic.

That could only be one place: Deli-Casino on Shreveport’s E. King’s Highway.

With a nervous, helpless, anxious finger, I hit the button to read the story. And…

Cue up the Hallelujah Chorus.

I mean, I feel bad that the other business feels they need to close. And good for them, that they have other ventures. And hopefully that franchise will remain open.

But Deli-Casino is a MUST have. A MUST HAVE. Yes, that is in all caps. And Deli-Casino is still making it happen, cap’n.

Why? One word: Dale and Sam George, the longtime owners/operators.

Need more words?

Fine: Casino Po-Boy: “Our house po-boy with regular mustard stacked with ham, salami, and bologna topped with melted cheddar cheese.”

You can get six-inch or nine-inch. Once I got a six-inch, but again, I made that mistake just once. Nine-inch Casino Po-Boy for me. If they had a 27-inch, I’d probably get that. (I recommend extra cheese.)

How many times have I been at their drive-thru window? Lots, but not enough.

Sometimes when we all worked at The Times, one of us would call in an order and I was usually the guy who did the pick-up. Seems like my dear sandwich-loving friends Kathie Rowell and Maggie Martin were partial to the One-Armed Bandit: Kaiser Roll, ham and salami, provolone, marinated olive mix. I had one once or twice. It was good. Better than good.

But I could not and cannot get off the Casino Po-Boy. Oh I tried a Club once too. It was “even more succulent than I had imagined,” to steal a Seinfeld phrase. But it wasn’t the Casino Po-Boy, which should be called the Casino Rich-Boy.

Thank you, Deli-Casino. You are a winner winner chicken dinner. If and when you retire–Lord help us all, and you should–we will still sing your sandwich and hospitality praises.

-30-