My MOH Speech

Hello.

My name is Mrs. Ho and I am honored to call SIL my sister-in-law.  I am also her matron-of-honor/wedding helper.

When SIL first started planning her wedding, I gave her some space and helped her with what you called “matron of honor duties” – dress shopping, bridal shower planning – little things.

But as time went on, I noticed she showed so much more enthusiasm for everything OTHER than wedding planning, including:  pulling weeds from my yard (we like to call that landscaping), cleaning out my basement storage room, hanging up pictures, going to the paint store 6 times to find the perfect shade of red for my kitchen, reading the entire Twilight series, eagerly anticipating the next episode in her Korean drama, wrangling me into watching 2 seasons of Dexter back-to-back, and when I thought she was doing wedding stuff in her room, I would come to find that she was actually finding ways to sponsor me in Mrs. Asia USA pageants. 

So I stepped in and we made a business deal that I would help her with the details.  When she sent me emails to add to my ever-growing to-do list, she would also add lines like, “I hope you will love me again one day.”

I would laugh out loud reading lines like that, because there is nothing that would keep me from loving her.  Even though I think she is crazy at times, she’s still my sister.

SIL has been living with us for the past year and I was definitely open to her moving in, frankly, because I knew I always had the option of kicking her back to her parent’s house.  We have had such an amazing time living together.  We’ve worked on our fitness with our personal trainer, my husband, Mr.Ho.  It’s so much easier to laugh when he yells at you for “deviating from the regimen” when you really just want to cry.  SIL would push his buttons by suggesting we do pull-up contests, and bench-pressing contests rather than follow his routine.

We successfully alienated my neighbors a little more.  Whether it be swigging champagne on the front stoop while their kids are playing outside or running sprints in the middle of the road with an unleashed bulldog while the neighbors are driving home from work.  Or when we formed an impromptu Neighborhood Watch Group called Crimewatch: Farrcroft! by ringing a neighbor’s doorbell at 1 AM to tell them their car had been running for the past 4 hours.

And at the same time, SIL has taught me things along the way.  Like her awesome new moves from her DanceJam classes, which I’m sure she will demonstrate for us later this evening.  Or how to make snackpaks by basically throwing in all leftover chips, cookies, and cracker crumbs into a ziplock baggie and keeping in my purse in case I get hungry on the fly.  Or the benefits of prophylactic drug usage.  I learned her favorite subject in school was pharmacology and she taught me that if you’re feeling sick, you better take that medicine, even if you’ve been drinking.  She’s my kind of doctor! 

SIL, the new appointed Poon-Tai Junior, I feel so lucky that I’ve had this past year with you.   I had the opportunity to get to know you so well.  And we have strengthened and fortified our relationship, our sisterhood for life.  Even though you are 6 months older than me, I have this strange urge to always take care of you – to feed you, to house you, to protect you from mean girls – like when you asked me to yell at the 12-year olds who were staring us down at the mall.  And now that you will be across the world from me, and not down the hallway, I feel reassured that you have BIL to look after you – to make sure you are healthy, happy, and entertained.

I’ve been married a little over a year, which obviously makes me an expert on marriage.  So I can tell you two to always confide in each other, to trust each other, to be honest with each other.  Even though there will be times you might want to hold a pillow over their face while their sleeping, you will never find a better friend, a BFF, than your spouse. 

SIL + BIL, I love you two so much.  Congratulations!  Cheers, everyone!