For Angel, it was her wedding
I asked the sons, daughters-in-law, and grandkids if they had any specific memories or stories about Jonathan they wanted to share on his blog. Angel responded with this remembrance:
In December 2009, I boarded a three-leg flight with my fiancé, Justin, to travel all the way from China to meet his family for the first time in Nashville–to get married there.
I knew little about Jon back then other than a few warm email exchanges. I brought my wedding dress and high heels—not sure how the wedding would look like, since Jon was planning most of it for us.
The week of the rehearsing and planning was so much fun. Jon would call meetings with us to discuss the ceremony process, asking me for my preference and input on every detail. He found a beautiful chapel with Christmas decorations for our ceremony, picked the songs and arranged all Justin’s brothers to participate in the process.
The reception was hosted in his beautiful home on Bayshore Drive, with family and close friends. The chef was sweet and nice, the food was delicious. The cake was white with rosy decorations on it.
Jon even arranged the honeymoon suite, and later a road trip for us to visit Boston.
“My dear, is there anything you would like to have for your special day?” he asked me, a couple days before our wedding, after we discussed everything in detail. His tone was warm and sweet, just like a father to me, making sure it will be my perfect day.
I said, “I want those cola cans at the back of the car that drag on the ground, like I watched in Hollywood movies.”
He laughed and said: “We will take care of that for you!” Just like that—it was done.
My wedding took place on December 21st, 2009. It was one of the most dreamy, sweet evening in my life.
After he passed away, my husband and I read through Jonathots, only to find out that in 2009, he was going through housing crash after the 2008 financial crisis. His property went down in value by over 50%. He was planning on selling the property for some profit as his next project—only to realize that he can now barely afford his mortgage.
It happened before our wedding and he never mentioned a word. None of us felt a drop of anxiety, stress. Joy was all that he gave me during my visit, and for my wedding.
I think this might be the biggest lesson I learned from this one-of-a-kind man. He refused to be defined by his circumstance—absolutely determined to treat the world and everyone around him with good cheer. And in my twelve years of encounters with him, countless moments like this one defined him for me.
Angel is an entrepreneur and recently began a management position with Amazon. She lives in Shanghai with Justin and their two sons, Wyeth and Noel.
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