What moved me most about Jess + Hy’s wedding, besides the adorableness of Henry the dog, was the thoughtfulness and care that went into it. I immediately thought, these are some exceptionally thoughtful and caring people, and then proceeded to laugh and cry in turns for the rest of the weekend. I’ve decided rather than write about it myself, I’ll offer some of Hy’s own words. .
“I take a moment to look around me - for the first time in over two years, I am surrounded by all of my beloved family of origin: my parents, aunts and uncles, siblings, cousins, and the next generation of kids and siblings, each a small wave in a sea of colorful áo dài.”
“I smile and think about how sweet it is for this generation of kids, and niblings, to experience moments of cultural belonging like this - how they’re simply crucial while living in a country that asks us over and over to hide this part of ourselves, how these moments of cultural pride and belonging were so crucial to my own journey of coming back to my Vietnamese identity.”
“I am reminded by my sister that this will probably be the first Dam Hoi that some of these kids will actually remember. How amazing, and special, it is that my family’s next generation’s new starting place for cultural norms, tradition, and values is inextricably linked with the first queer and trans Dam Hoi in their family.”
“I feel so grateful to be standing on the shoulders of our ancestors, to be able to dream up and carry their legacy of ‘creative acts of survival’, for the possibility of creating a life worth living and on my own terms, so that future generations might one day do so, too.”
“A deeply grounding loving kindness meditation was led by my cousin, Nghi, and special community vows led by our friend, Kae, with all our loved ones from around the world standing in concentric circles around us.
Never have I felt so profoundly held by our collective community, ancestors, and earth than in this moment.”
