V3. CH8. 25TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

In July Sue and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on Block Island RI, the very same Island that hosted our original wedding ceremony 25 years earlier! And, just like the original event, the anniversary celebration will also help us to recall some of the most magical memories of our lives together...

First of all, Sue and I both have our own individual long-standing attraction to Block Island.  Sue from all the way back to her teenage years through several summer jobs, and me for several years as a vacation spot before Sue and I met.  If you have never been to Block Island, affectionately known as The Block by regular visitors to the island, our favorite route to getting there is to bring our car to the island via ferry from Point Judith RI.  The island can also be reached by both passenger and car ferries from New London CT, and passenger ferries from Newport RI and Montauck, NY, or a delightful 12 minute flight from Westerly, RI.

When Sue and I were married on Block Island in July of 1999 it was a truly special day.  We had rented a large house for the week prior to the actual wedding ceremony, along with two other of our dear friend couples.  We also had with us a total of seven children combined that we had parented amongst us.  Sue and I contributed four of those seven kids through a combination of both of our previous marriages.  

By the time the Saturday evening sunset wedding rolled around twenty five years ago, there were 90+ adults and children who had arrived on the island to help us celebrate our vows on the beautiful lawn of our rental property.  Both Sue and I agree that at the moment we walked arm in arm across the back deck of the house to be greeted by the love of our family and guests, and framed by a background of the most glorious, westerly view of the sun and sea, that we would always be able to recall that singular moment as the perfect expression of our love for each other.  And, in truth, we HAVE called upon that moment dozens of times in the last 25 years to remind us of how, and whom, we should be to and for each other. 

Over the next 25 years Sue and I, often with our four children and eventually with our children’s spouses and our grandchildren, would invariably spend at least a week each summer on The Block.  There was never any greater anticipation of an event than the day we would leave bound for the island each year.

Twenty five years later in celebration of our Silver Anniversary, Sue and I obviously did not expect to have the same type of experience that we had on our wedding day.  But knowing that our children and grandchildren had both inherited and embraced our love for The Block we also knew that we needed to celebrate our Silver anniversary together on this very special island with as many of our family members as possible. 

Planning the date, finding a rental house to accommodate the celebration, coordinating the arrival of all four of our children, their spouses and our six grandchildren, as well as catering, housing, entertainment, gifts and 100 other details were all managed seamlessly by Sue.  At the height of the busiest month of the year on a vacation island there is no adequate way to describe the jigsaw of puzzle pieces that Sue planned, coordinated and executed.  All of which came together seamlessly,  as if it was a given.  She manifested this for all of us.  

And, just like our wedding day 25 years earlier, a most glorious day arrived to say … on this day in July, you are being loved and blessed by forces known and unknown, seen and unseen.  Your commitment is to acknowledge and FEEL the love of family, live in that light as examples for them to emulate, and manifest the commitment to each other in community by example to each other.

Sue arranged the day to start after everyone’s arrival with a treasure hunt for all of the grandchildren.  Each of them participated with equal joy as even the youngest at ten months old seemed to follow them with his eyes suggesting he would be in the middle of the hunt a few years into the future.

After food, joy and the magic of all of us being together on a perfect day, at the perfect location on a magical, beautiful island where each of us have collectively compiled so many memories, Susan and I were allowed the privilege of sharing with each other, in front of family how a 25 year journey can have so many surprises, can tolerate so many challenges, and can lovingly commit to both forgiveness and renewal in the same moment.

This blog is really a thank you note and a love letter from me to Susan, from me to each of my beautiful family already here and perhaps as yet to come and to Block Island, thread of a needle that ties so many of my fondest memories together into a tapestry of joy! 

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