Toast for Ryan and Allison’s Wedding

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Cheryl Pollock Stober, Ryan’s older sister. I appreciate having the opportunity to share a bit with you about my brother on this special day.

Now Allison, I’m sure you thought you knew my brother well, but I’m not sure you knew that he is in fact a doctor. You see, when he was about three or four, he invented a character he called Dr. Missumio. It involved a piece of string tied just so around his head, with a blue connecting piece from his beloved Fisher-Price Construx hitting somewhere between his eyes. He would speak in the most proper way a four year old could muster, and do whatever it took to make his big sister laugh.

Growing up, Ryan and I were always very close. He’d patiently play along while I arranged my large collection of Cabbage Patch Kids, and I tolerated playing a few rounds of Sonic the Hedgehog on his SEGA. We attended the same overnight camp, and during his last summer there, when I was too old to attend, he brought me home a bag of dirt because he knew how much I loved it there. When I went off to college, I emailed him and my mother every day, beginning a tradition that has gone on for almost 15 years now, taking us through email addresses at AOL, Brandeis and Cornell universities, Yahoo and ultimately Gmail. Ryan always kept us on the cutting edge.

My parents have succeeded at one of my top goals in raising my own children - that they should be best friends. Ryan, while we may live on opposite sides of the country, you have been and will always be one of the most important people in my life. Allison, I couldn’t ask for a better woman for his wife. I knew Ryan had found his soulmate when I first saw them order in a restaurant together, agreeing to each split their meals, with Ryan willing to eat something more exotic than I’d ever heard him order on his own. Allison, you are not only sweet and loving, patient and kind, but willing to put up with Ryan’s gadget addiction and great love for the San Francisco 49ers. I look forward to celebrating many happy times together, and being there to support you as you have always supported me.

So please raise your glass, to Ryan and Allison, mazel tov, l'chaim!