Tomorrow, Maureen and the goofy guy celebrate their forty-third wedding anniversary.
i need to thank her for about…oh, a million things. In a following post, i shall rerun the story of how we met. It had to be the Navy’s form of fate.
Over 43 years of being together (we actually met in March 1982), we both have learned a lot of things about each other, about our relatives and friends, and about life.
A constant in that learning is change.
The constant and never ending defiance of change is our love for each other. That has changed too. Our love has moved through many phases, and we still get upset when we disagree. The funny thing is we now know each other so well, we understand what is happening and accept our differences.
Our celebrating of this year’s event began on Sunday with lunch at one of our all-time favorite dining places (of which there are many: dining out has been a mainstay of our relationship since we met), The Artifact, located in the Mengei Museum — mengei means “art of the people” — is flat amazing in creativeness in its cuisine, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, as well as international wines.
After lunch, we walked over to the “Old Globe” theater where we saw “Cyrano,” a modern adaptation of Edmond Rostands’ 1897 drama, “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Most folks nowadays know it from Steve Martin’s 1987 romantic comedy “Roxanne.” This theater in the round production captured what we both felt was the spirit of Rostand’s original drama.
It was wonderful. Both of us left feeling emotional, good.
Tomorrow, we will go to the Museum of Art to take in their exhibit of some of their most impressive acquisitions of art over the past 15 years. Then, we will lunch at another favorite dining place and come home.
As i noted earlier, we have learned a lot over 43 years. One is at our age to do too much to celebrate, but enough to enjoy and embrace.
To conclude, one of the things i’ve learned is that no other woman could have put up with this old mariner and goofy guy. We plan for it to stay that way.
Happy 43rd Anniversary, Maureen, and thank you.
These are the wedding vows my brother Joe gave at our wedding at her father’s home in Lemon Grove, California, July 30, 1983:
We are here today to celebrate a union.
Maureen and Jim have traveled different paths to meet at the opportune place to become a perfect union. Their experiences of the past have contributed to their love being what it is. Their love began as a friendship and grew far beyond what neither had dreamed possible.
They wish today to be a celebration, a joyous day of laughter and warmth; they wish to share their elation of finding each other with those here today. They hope the emotion of gladness they feel will overflow, and others can feel the wonderment and peace of togetherness that they share.
The light of love lit by Jim and Maureen has allowed them insight into previously unseen corners of their lives and to see down corridors of their future. This light has also revealed a depth of emotion that defies any explanation of extent. It has cast the light of clarity on relations with other people important in their lives, redefining and deepening those relationships. In their relationship with each other, this light of love has allowed them to experience a depth of feeling and love coexisting with an openness and sharing that they have not attained before.
This union does not create walls but invites freedom to Maureen and Jim to be who they are with each other and with others with whom they have shared. This wedding is a symbol, an announcement, a consecration of a relationship that has been blessed as a perfect union by the spirit and power that transcends us all.
Jim and Maureen, do you promise to share your joys, your insights and moments of beauty with each other? Do you promise to continue to love each other with a joy that is limitless in time and space? Will you continue to hold each other close in body and spirit? Do you promise to support each other without inhibitions or reservations in all of your endeavors and moments of reflections, both high and low? And do you promise that your friendship with each other, from which this love has grown, and will continue with the same openness, depth and fervor as it began?
This ring is a permanent symbol of this union. It signifies the love, adoration, and friendship that abounds between these two people. Its never-ending circle is a symbol of the extent of Maureen and Jim’s love.
It should be remembered that it is a symbol and cannot completely capture or represent the total love and commitment these two have for each other.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord let his face shine upon you and give you peace.
