Bill and Dianne after they took their vows!

I felt completely blessed to be a part of this wedding a few evenings ago. The Bride and Groom are both approaching 80 years of age. They both, along with their supportive family members, completely inspired me! They are SO in love! As I watched the family take photos after the ceremony, my heart was nearly bursting open with a sense of how today is truly a gift. Here is a passage from the ceremony I composed:

“As a couple, you feel a common chord connecting you, about doing the best with what you have and being thankful for every day you are given. You quickly felt a natural connection this way, in your philosophies of life and living based on many rich experiences. For all that you have experienced, however, you do not dwell in the past. You are VERY present right now, right here, today. A gift for which you are so grateful.”

Summer evening at DeGrazia Chapel in Tucson, AZ

The Groom was one of the original lithographers for the artist Ted DeGrazia. It was fitting to have the wedding in the DeGrazia Chapel, at the Gallery of the Sun. We timed the ceremony to be held at sunset, as the couple is in their precious sunset years of life. It was simply beautiful! Afterward, we even had a graceful bat or two swoop into the Chapel, which is open to the sky above.

I am so thankful to be doing this work when I serve families in these deeply memorable moments. There were tears and laughter and such good stories. When I walked up the path to my house later that night, I saw a huge bursting star fall, with a long shimmering tail. The perfect footnote to an evening that felt so full of stardust already!

In Gratefulness,

Kristine

Okay – how fun does this sound? Leaving your wedding by paddling away in a canoe . . . a giant s’more instead of wedding cake? Playing color war? I love how couples are choosing to hold weddings in fresh outdoor places that spell a-d-v-e-n-t-u-r-e for them and their guests! I would LOVE to compose and lead ceremonies for couples holding their weddings at summer camps, ranches, horseback pack trips, you name it.

I am ready and game!

Kristine

Reading this story gives me a huge lump in my throat, for countless reasons. This photo of the school girls, looking toward the A-Bomb dome in Hiroshima, moved me to post about it. I hope they know a different world in their lifetimes, where people do not use such weapons. Eight years ago I stood in the same place as they are, looking at that skeleton of a building, with tears streaming down my face.

Schoolgirls at Hiroshima Peace Museum (A/P photo by S. Kajiyama)

Ceremony helps us mark events; both the bitter and sweet occurrences in life. It helps us pause and remember. Tomorrow marks the 65th anniversary of the first atomic bomb dropping on civilization. It is surely one of our most collectively bitter events to mark as a world community. I can only imagine the solemnity in Hiroshima, when they ring the peace bell and release doves during the ceremony. I am thankful a U.S. Ambassador is attending for the first time. I am encouraged to see other nuclear powers, France and Britain attending. Mere symbolism you say? Well regardless, I believe the ceremony clearly sends messages of peace to leaders and citizens around the world.

I visited the Peace Museum in Hiroshima with a pit in my stomach and many tears. Exhibits made clear to me what utter devastation we wrought. And yet, there is attendant beauty in the walls of letters from Mayors across the world, urging peace and destruction of nuclear weapons. There is magnificent beauty in the thousands of colorful origami cranes draped over garden statues. The sense of remembrance for all the victims and survivors is viscerally palpable. Enough so, I hope, that this world does not see devastation on that scale again.

Kristine