Wedding Toasts

Isabelle, my bridesmaid, gave us a great toast. Unfortunately, it was rather hard to hear some of the toasts during the reception. So here it is if you care to read it:

"Those of you who know me (or who have read my bio on the pookies in love Web site) know that Karen and I have been friends for several years. When I first met Karen, I learned about a very interesting characteristic of hers. Karen has this tendency to discover new things and gets a bit obsessed or fixated on them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me give you a few examples. Several years back, Karen discovered Italian food – actually pasta. I think it was during a trip to Italy that she realized pasta, when made well, is delicious! So what did she do? She started cooking up all sorts of pasta dishes, throwing dinner parties for her friends to try them, bringing pasta for lunch every day, and we all thought she’d probably quit her day job soon and start her own cooking show.

Or, take the time she discovered ice cream. She went out and bought an ice cream maker and made a different flavor of ice cream every day. Of course, we were all rushing to try them out and actually hoped she’d quit her day job and make us ice cream all day instead!

Ok, I’m making it seem like Karen is obsessed on with food…but her obsessions span other areas too. I remember when Karen discovered eBay…she was online every day winning auctions. And what about tennis? Karen had hardly picked up a racquet three years ago…but the day she did, we all knew Karen would be well on her way to winning tennis championships…and we were right!

All of these examples of Karen’s obsessions are centered around food and sports. And while Karen became great at all of these, she probably wasn’t getting much love back because as we all know inanimate objects and activities can’t reciprocate! So that brings me to Karen’s most recent obsession (aside from wedding planning)…Paul. I still remember the first day she told me about Paul. It was during a phone conversation and I remember thinking that this guy seemed to be pretty into her (but that wasn’t a surprise!). I had no idea that after that day, I’d be hearing about Paul every day for the rest of my life. But there was a slight difference with Karen’s new fixation, and I experienced it the first time I met Paul…this time, the obsession was mutual, and as strong (if not stronger) from the other party. The first time I met him was during their weekend trip to visit me in SB. That weekend, I don’t think I had Karen alone for more than 3 minutes (when we were waiting in line for food while Paul went to the ATM). They ate out of one plate with one fork and shared one glass. They called each other pookie!

So please join me in raising your glasses to Karen and Paul…and their obsessions."