Speech by Leif Jørgensen

Speech Type: Father of the bride/groom
Speech Creator: Leif Jørgensen
Speech Date: Jul2005
Dear Guests, dear Jordan and Nelly.

First of all, welcome to everybody and an especially welcome to those who have traveled for long distances to be here. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Sweden and Europe. If you wants to prolong your stay in Helsingborg, please let me know, there are several of our friend that have volunteered to have guests in their homes. I also want to thank them for their hospitality and everybody who have helped Kerstin and me to arrange this wedding – without Kerstin there would have been no wedding.

I would like to say some words to the newly married couple and especially address this to Nelly. Nelly has many good characteristics and one of these is very dominant.

She's a winner.

This feature became first evident for me when I visited the kindergarten, when Nelly was just 6 years old. They had a small competition where the children had to move a hat between their heads. When the music stopped the one with the hat one had to leave the competition. At the end there were 2 children (one of them being Nelly) and a boy left. How won? Nelly.

The next competition that comes into my mind is a holiday competition in Italy. Nelly was some 8 years old and had begun swimming in the local swim club. The competition included children up to 10 years old. That will say children that were at least 2 years older that her. Nelly biggest problem n this competition was: ‘Where is my lane – there are no lanes – where am I going to start – How many lengths am I going to swim?’ I explained that on holidays there were no lanes and that the race were for 2 lengths, ‘andate et roturno’ as it said in Italian. The result was that Nelly started after the rest of the swimmer, dived under and passed below the rest of the swimmers, came up for breathing well in from of the rest, went for the end of the pool and made a perfect high speed turning vault, dived again under the crowed that were slowly approaching the end of pool and finished her 2 Lengths well before most of the swimmers had completed their first length. The only small problem were that the race were really only of one length and that her dad had to realize that his Italian were not too good. She got her largest trophy ever from this competition. She's a winner.

There are also other places where there is a tough competition. One of these places is the high school: Nelly went in several special swimming classes even here in Sweden; in fact she joined the first swimming class ever at Filborna school. She chose the program for natural sciences and her finishing work were done in biology. Her colleagues in high school told her, that this teacher had never given the highest grade to any student, so this was bad luck for Nelly. Nelly did her work on toxic effects of tunnel lining materials, and she got the highest grade. So even within the school system she's a winner.

Then she got a scholarship and went to University of Cincinnati. A there were a lot of swimming completions that we had to follow on the Internet. There were especially several completions in Florida where Nelly won a lot. For these completions she got the award ‘An all America Award’. This really great – an ‘all American Award’ is a girl who is among the 16 best girls in the US, and that's really something extra. The award comes with a gold ring, and large picture that is hanging on the wall in swimming pool.

Nelly has now got not one, but two academic degrees, one Batchelor of Science and another Master of Science and she has since June this year also got a job, where she can practice her education at a firm called Ikon. Also in this area she's a winner.

Well, how is Nelly own favorites or idols? They are also winners. Her biggest idol was a true winner. His odds were not always the best, in most cases he was outnumbered by 4 to 1. And this idol of Nelly's was also quick, just like Nelly. Nelly biggest idol was Lucky Luke – a western cartoon hero. I don't know the number of time Nelly has listened to the tape of Lucky Luke and the four Dalton brothers, but there most have been something about Lucky Luke than appealed to Nelly – maybe the combination of speed and begin a winner.

A small advice to years to come, Nelly share your winning with Jordan and they will double, but don't forget also to share the loosing and these will diminish.

Now adding all these prizes, academic titles and medals together, what is the best achievement during all the years? I know that Johanna is getting this question from reporters from time to time, and she is not having a fixed answer.

Nelly what's your best victory? (Nelly had no answer to the question).

Nelly best victory – well he's sitting right next to her. Jordan, welcome to the family, I'm sure that you are the best prize that Nelly ever has taken. We know Jordan as a polite young man and as a person with a good sense of humor. This humor can be used both in US and Sweden and this is really difficult. I know this from trying to translate Danish humor to Swedish and it's really difficult to have a good humor in two different cultures, but Jordan has this capacity.

And now I would like to have an ‘hurray’ for the weeded couple. Four times ‘hurray’.