Origins

Sometime in late January 2010, my boyfriend Harry and I realized that it was going to be a crazy summer. From June through early November, we had 12 weddings. (We could only attend 10 because of overlap. And for one weekend we split ways and attended different ceremonies.) We were traveling from upstate NY to Bermuda, from Cleveland to Boston and even from Jersey City to Jersey City. (Two ceremonies were in the same place on different weekends!)

Sometime in March as we started to buy flights, attend engagement parties and think about gifts, I got a bit overwhelmed. How would I go to school part time, hold a full time job and go away every other weekend? In May, it was with the unexpected death of a friend from college that reminded me to celebrate and enjoy celebration. On the day of Tristan’s funeral, I sat in the church thinking, I should be at his wedding. I entered that summer with a new perspective: less worry, more celebration, more love.

My best friend Lilly and I listened to Antje Duvekot’s Merry-Go-Round on the ride home from the funeral: “Some things will rise up so that others come down/If the devil don’t dance, heaven won’t shine/It’s a mighty thick haze and it’s a pretty thin line/If the faucet is tightened up the love won’t flow/If the love isn’t bright enough the corn won’t grow.”

This blog is about and a tribute to the bright love I witness each year.