|
|
|
Jocelyn welcomes and thanks everybody for
coming.
It is so amazing to have everyone we love and
care for so deeply all in one place!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle’s
dad gives a warm toast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle’s dad laughs as he sits down.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Hello everyone,
Welcome/acknowledgements
We met Michelle’s
parents for the first time yesterday for lunch. When I saw what Michelle’s
father ordered for lunch -- a roast beef sandwich and a beer -- I said to
myself, ‘I’m going to like this guy.’
Before we get to the
toast, I will impose on you one more story.
-Lynn has often said in spite of the
diapers and occasional mess, the kids were a lot easier to care of when
they were toddlers. Life and occasional messes get more complicated when
the kids get over the age of 16.
-As Lynn and I have
gotten older, we realize there is more and more that we have difficulty
understanding and more and more that we do not know. Computers and adult
children are high on the list.
-I will preface this
toast to Jocelyn and Michelle with a few words about what I do know.
-When JoJo was born, Lynn did all the
work and I had the fun. Some things never change.
-The fun I had was
telling everyone the great news of Jo’s birth. After few hours when new
mom and baby got settled, I left the hospital and started driving home.
On the way back the radiator hose in the jeep sprang a leak. When the radiator fluid hit the hot
engine block, in February, at 3am, with the outside air temp at zero, it
started spewing huge plumes of steam and smoke. People on highway 494
were honking at me telling me to pull over because they thought the car
was going to blow up.
-But I ignored them and
kept driving. I had to get home and tell everyone the good news
-It was fun to tell my
brothers they had new titles. As is Chinese custom, they were now uncle
#1, uncle #3, and uncle #4. For the first dozen years of her life, we
didn’t say Uncle Mike and Aunt Izzi. JoJo always called them Iback and
Imoo.
-For the people I could
not call, I found a local printer to make the birth announcements. At the
top of the announcement was a first day photo of Jocelyn. In the picture,
Jo is a bit wrinkly but cute. She has a ribbon on her forehead and is
wrapped in a receiving blanket with the requisite duckies and bunnies.
She may still have that blanket.
-To me, it’s a
beautiful picture.
Below the picture, the words
printed are lyrics I borrowed from a Stevie Wonder song. It says:
Isn’t she lovely
Isn’t she wonderful
Isn’t she precious
Less than one minute
old
I can’t believe what
God has done
Through us he has given
life to one
Isn’t she lovely
Made from love.
-Nowadays, I go back to
look at that birth announcement for two reasons. #1, obviously, it
reminds me of the joy we had 30 years ago and today that Jocelyn is our
daughter.
-Secondly, when I am
surly and surrounded by things I do not understand, that picture reminds
me of what is important in life, and that is family and friends.
Please offer a toast
not only to Jocelyn and Michelle, but also to all of you here tonight,
their family and friends; the important things in their lives.”
|
|
Jocelyn’s dad gives a funny and very touching
toast. It is one of the best gifts ever. Thank you.
|
|
|
|
|
Uncle Mike gives a toast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. Lun,
Uncle Howie, and Jill laugh.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nahir and Allison look on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Cory, Andy, and Casey, here’s a photo of you guys.)
|
|
|
|
Uncle
Mike giving his toast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Here’s another
photo of Uncle Mike.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jason giving his toast.
|
|
“Good evening everyone.
First off, I’d like to thank Michelle and Jocelyn for inviting me to
celebrate this special occasion with them. For those of you who don’t
know me, I’m Michelle’s younger brother, Jason.
My earliest
memories of my sister were of ones of … fear. You see, Michelle was the
kind of person who always knew exactly what she wanted to do and if I
didn’t play along or acquiesce, she would bonk me on the top of my head.
Ask my parents, they can attest to it! Those were the early years.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle laughs as Jason gives his
toast.
|
|
“When she got to high school, Michelle
channeled her persistence into many achievements. She was successful in speech
and debate, was the class salutatorian, ran cross country, and was active
in campus organizations. What this meant for me personally was I had to
stay out of her way. Before Palm Pilots, she would carry around a
clipboard with a schedule of everything she had to do that day. Since she
gave me a ride to school and I could never wake up in the morning, she
would lecture me about how my hitting the snooze button triggered a
domino effect, causing her to push back all the things on that clipboard
and I was singlehandedly ruining her life. That was just the kind of
person she was. She was very goal-oriented and focused and didn’t worry
about other things besides what she had to do.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Then Michelle
goes to college, and I begin to notice changes. She was no longer only
concerned about the things she had to do for herself. She developed
interests in other things. She exhibited a greater faith in the people
around her. I remember her telling me about Jocelyn, but I never really
put everything together. Then I actually met Jocelyn and got the chance
to see Michelle interact with her. What I noticed was a sense of
compassion and understanding and sacrifice and openness that I never saw
in my sister before. Before she met Jocelyn, she never felt that
connection to someone that would allow her to be truly happy and made her
want to give. Jocelyn was able to tap into a new side of Michelle, and
for that I’m happy for them, and I’m thrilled to celebrate their marriage
with you tonight.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle
gives Jason a tearful hug.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle
gives a toast to Jocelyn.
|
|
She recounts a story of how when she was in high
school,
she had made up a list of all of the
characteristics that she wanted in an ideal partner – eloquent, smart,
someone who just understood her, someone with whom they complemented
each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and
together,
they’d make a great team to travel through life.
|
|
Michelle had put that list away, along with her
many other journals.
|
|
Years later, when she was dating Jocelyn, she
happened to come upon that list again. To her surprise, Jocelyn matched
every single one of them, and even added more to that list.
Jocelyn was more than everything Michelle ever
dreamed of.
Click here
if you want to read more
sappy,
romantic ramblings from Michelle to Jocelyn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lisa gives a toast.
|
|
Lisa helped us soooooo much with the
wedding planning. Thank you!
|
|
“Jocelyn and Michelle
asked for volunteers to say some funny anecdotes about the two of them,
and stories about how we met them. I don’t exactly remember when I first
met Jocelyn. We both grew up in Rochester,
MN, where somehow are
parents became friends – probably because there were only about five
Chinese families there at the time. One vivid memory I have of us as kids
is playing Barbies. Yes, Jocelyn played with Barbies. She had this entire
Barbie house, while my sister Niki and I had the Barbie convertible and
studio apartment. I think we both had horses. I also remember rolling
down the hill of death at Lynn
and Dennis’ old house, trying to avoid rolling into the street. Jocelyn,
Niki, and I were also in SEMYO, or youth orchestra, together. I think we
all collectively are trying to suppress those memories. We didn’t become
good friends until we both moved back to MN to go to school. We’ve since
bonded over complaining about school, living in Roseville, and of course, TV addiction.
I didn’t meet Michelle
until about four or five years ago. I was visiting my sister in Boston, and we were
going to the T stop, when we met Michelle on the street. After that brief
encounter, we didn’t meet again until a year and half later after I had
moved back to MN. It’s amazing, though, how you can become such good
friends with someone you only see every few months. Now, I’ve become her
shopping companion when she visits, since we all know how much Jocelyn
likes to go shopping.
For some odd reason,
Jocelyn and Michelle asked me to help out with the planning of their
wedding. They did the bulk of the work, but you can see my contribution
in some of the crooked invitations. I also got to eat a lot of chocolate
and cookies while looking for wedding favors. Furthermore, I had the
honor of registering for gifts with the happy couple. They had many
discussions over what kind of white dishes to buy, what size of drinking
glasses they liked and the ease of washing, and how many pots do they really need. The worst part,
though, was when they asked my opinion. Whenever it got a little heated,
I’d just casually walk away and check up on them five minutes later. But,
they made it through an entire day of shopping, so I know they’ll make it
the rest of their lives together.
Jocelyn and Michelle, I
want to thank you two for your great friendship over that past few years,
and I will miss you both so much when you move to Rochester, NY.
I promise to visit, and I can’t wait for Michelle Jr. Please raise your
glasses with me, and drink a toast to the happy couple. Cheers.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Catherine, you make me cry. I love you so
much.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Meredith
gives a funny toast.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vanesa gives a
humorous toast too.
“In a short time, Michelle has proven to be a really
good friend -- supportive, attentive, kind, and very generous. So Jocelyn,
you’re really lucky to have her. There’s a lot I’ve learned about Michelle,
from Michelle, especially about how to make multiple back-up files of
everything I’ve ever written on my computer. Because then if something
happens, it’s your fault. And about how to try to have a long-distance
relationship, since she did a comprehensive literature review on the topic
as she entered into this one. I still have her notes, if anyone needs them.
But most of all, I’ve learned that Michelle has the most atrocious musical
taste in the world. Jocelyn, I swore to you that if it was the only thing I
did as Michelle’s friend, I would get to the bottom of it.”
|
|
|
“And I’ve brought
something that I found in your apartment ¾
Meat Loaf: Hits Out
of Hell. Now, you have two options, and luckily, whichever one you choose
is right. Jocelyn, you can either accept and embrace it or, Michelle, you can
surrender it and accept that Meat Loaf sucks. Either way, I think it shows
the willingness to compromise that is so important to you in your
relationship. At least according to your notes.
I wish you all the
best in your lives together.”
(Vanesa, here are more photos of you.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sarah and Sam give a toast.
|
|
Click the video camera below for the
video.
|
|
|
|
(Sam and Sarah, here are more photos of you.)
|
|
|
