jooohn

I like the sound of my name, sometimes. l really like it when lex calls me johnathan. which is just a change. I want to tell you some stories. they have to do with some amazing people and I guess my name.

I went to visit jess in l.a last weekend. yah. another story in itself. so she had told me we would be helping out with a wedding and a reception Saturday. I expected that much. sat. morning I woke up to a house completely full of the people. the bridal party or the groomsmen more like were all staying at the house. the groom has three beautiful sisters. like me. who were always in the mix of things. oh. I must add that the family is from Cambodia. what a culture. they were the first I had ever met. so, jess and I ran some errands in the morning for the family. we actually went to Cambodia town to pick up some soupy saucy sort of thing full of anchovies. yah. yal know I cant do anchovies. anyway. the grooms father placed a large order of this for the dinner at the reception so we followed his request. we came home to a house full of family and guest. once again. weddings. yes. bringing everyone together. speaking of families. I was introduced to sam and mom upon our return. so cute. Cambodian refugees who had come over about 20 years ago. from the first second sam (the father) met me he began to put me to work. he would always state my name in broken english prior to his order jooohn…this…jooohn..that. i loved it. I loved feeling like I was contributing to something larger than me. I would be trying to relax upstairs and sam would hunt me down and ask me to do some other odd job. ha. I cant stop laughing just thinking about it. he kept me on my toes. we were put in charge of all the food. ha. when we arrived at the chapel which is actually the most beautiful church building ive ever seen other than the temples.I was relieved to see a legitimate catering team in charge of everything. good ol sam. his portions of the meal were not really part of the menu but he just wanted to be sure we would have enough food. so thoughtful. I feared that our food would be discarded and just thrown off to the side. which it was for a little bit. anyway. those two. sam and mother were working so hard. so deeply invested on making this the best experience for everyone possible. especially a special interest in making this perfect for their family which also says a bunch. after the ring ceremony (#idontcry) we were put up to the greatest task of the night. jess and I had to greet alllllll the guests and converse them as we escorted them to their respected tables. ha. yah. talk about a role. once we got everyone situated the feast began. and the beast in the kitchen. sam and mother had special requests for their guests so it made it awkward and a little more challenging for the kitchen. so the two were both in and out of the kitchen until the head chef unleashed on all of us. it just happened that I was also in there when it took place. holy. sam walked out with his head held down. they were just trying their best. I learned he spoke French so I thought I that might comfort him if I spoke to him in French. wrong. he just shrugged me off and said its fine jooohn go. ha. ha. so adorable. we did our best to keep everyone happy at the reserved tables and it paid off. it did. we celebrated. we danced. we ate. we danced. after the couple took off we danced one last bit. I feared that we would have to clean up like at every other wedding reception. I just tried to imagine not having to though because there was a lot of work to do. well. you know sam by about now. so you can guess what happened. he put me to work. the whole day I thought about whether I wanted to write about him and there was a moment that sealed it for me. we were stacking up the chairs and needed another rack. the rack was literally about 35 yards under the stage. so you had to crawl on your knees to get it. I was walking by and I saw sam about half way there. I felt so humble. this little ol father working harder than I was so I yelled him down and told him to come back and I would finish it. I grabbed that rack and we began to work once again. he then put me to the hardest most tedious job. at one point I was doing it wrong and he began to say son son son no no no not like that. I am sorry I taught you it to you like so. ha. he went a little crazy. and called me son on top of it. wow. what a day. what a wedding. what a family. what a father. what a people. so selfless and so giving. I envy. I want to be like. yes. well there it was. call me jooohn

salut

jooohn

its.a.good.time