the speech

it only took three iterations and some honest feedback from keting2 (way too biographical, short and funny) and the boy, but i managed to crank out my maid-of-honor speech just in time. . . i was feeling quite anxious having to speak in front of a huge crowd, but perhaps because the crowd wasn't really paying attention, the delivery went fine- and i even managed to garner a few laughs from the bride. so for those who only heard snippets- here it is.

it is with great honor that i stand before you as vk's maid-of-honor. vk and i met in graduate school; perhaps because were were two of the handful of americans in the programs, it was inevitable that we became regular lunch partners. my first impression of vk was that she was shy, sweet, and possibly the slowest eater i've ever met. teeny. tiny. bites.

needless to say, we became close- bonding over how stressful graduate school was and trading stories about our kooky roommates. for instance, there was the time vk's roommate forced fed her colloidal silver when she was sick with the flu. or the time my roommate fled into my room in the middle of the night and asked to sleep in my bed because she was having night terrors. and this was within a week of moving in with her.

our roommate problem was solved when we decided to room together and found a cute apartment in tiny tokyo. vk is the best roommate i have ever had. i took out the trash. she wiped down the kitchen. i killed all the spiders. vk watched me kill the spiders, frozen in place with fear. i helped vk pick the right purse or belt to go with her outfit. and vk would help me get lost on almost every excursion.

but the best was bachelor night. thursday nights. i would wait for her to get home from work and we'd have snacks and wine. we would devise and play drinking games. every time a contestant would say "i have found the man/woman of my dreams" or "i think he is my soulmate" or "will you please accept this rose?"- we would take a sip of wine.

tonight, vk is no longer a bachelorette and jackie is no longer a bachelor. so please join me by raising your glasses and toasting vk and jackie- to celebrate vk and jackie's meeting ten years ago in an economics study group, to their journey of discovering and rediscovering that they were meant to be together, and to the marriage vows they exchanged tonight.

congratulations. i love you both and wish you a lifetime of happiness.