Real Love

Christmas is finally packed away. Well it is all packed up in the plastic tubs anyway.

It has yet to be put away in the attic. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Since I was so late in packing up Christmas, I figured it was OK to go ahead and put out Valentines Day.

This is the family room mantle. I wanted to keep things clean, simple and fresh, but still full of color.

But decorating in a LOVE theme doesn’t make love real. This we know.

Luckily I have had a beautiful reminder of what love truly looks like recently.

A few weekends ago I officiated my first wedding. Talk about LOVE.

This was a second marriage & blended family wedding.

The bride and groom and their children friends of ours.

The whole evening was sweet and precious and lovely and honest and free of pretense.

Everyone took part in the ceremony, parents, kids, guest.

Bride and Groom, together, wrote several parts of the ceremony themselves.

This part, the “charge,” was one of my very favorites

Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.

A good marriage must be created.

In marriage the little things are the big things.

It is never being too old to hold hands.

It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day.

It is never going to sleep angry.

It is at no time taking the other for granted;

the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through the years.

It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.

It is standing together facing the world.

It is forming a circle of love that gathers the whole family.

It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice,

but in the spirit of joy. It is speaking words of appreciation

and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.

It is not looking for perfection in each other.

It is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding and a sense of humour.

It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.

It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow old.

It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.

It is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal,

dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

It is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner.