Rachel and Jason
paper flower in an empty wine bottle
Rachel and Jason’s children—Toby (posing for the camera) and Charlotte (being shy)
Sophie, calm
cake!
A couple weekends ago Rachel and Jason celebrated 10 years of marriage by renewing their vows. Andy was out of town so Sophie and I made the trip alone. Sophie must have been very anxious that evening because every “stranger” who approached us triggered her stranger anxiety and she screamed and screamed and screamed. I got very nervous when I learned that the renewing of vows would be a traditional Quaker service, complete with silent reflection and meditation.
We sat in the back and, thankfully, amazingly, Sophie seemed to sense the importance of the event. She didn’t cry. She didn’t scream. She sat on my lap and ate Cheerios.
Later, with a fire roaring in the the huge stone fireplace and jazz music playing in the background we enjoyed a huge potluck dinner.
And it was beautiful. Every day you hear stories of love ending. Rachel and Jason were the first of my friends to get married. Throughout the years, Rachel has, perhaps unknowingly, offered me great words of wisdom about marriage and, later, children. She never sugar coats, which I find refreshing. And while the picture she paints isn’t always perfect I find it difficult to think of another couple so obviously in love.
Sophie and I left early, as it was already way past her bedtime. And as I pushed her stroller up a big, big hill to the parking lot, she looked at me and then looked at the star studded sky and, for a reason only she knows, laughed and laughed and laughed—the whole way up the hill.
I can only hope she finds such love someday.
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” —Morrie Schwartz
