Come Live With Me And Be My Love

"Where the sun sets o'er the sea, that's where she and I will be."  This photo I took of Kari & Ken along the Oregon Coast several years ago has always been one of my favourites.

When Kari began a long-distance romance with a guy she had first met and become friends with in Minneapolis twenty-some years ago, I was happy for her. I was less than thrilled though when she told me a little more than ten years ago that she was going to move to the west coast to be with him - not that I wasn't happy for her, just that I didn't like the idea of her being so far away.

The relationship worked. And even though Ken gave her a diamond five or six years ago, I didn't think they would ever actually "tie the knot". They were happy with the status quo. But earlier this month, Ken had some health issues that made it more urgent for Kari to get him covered under her health plan. The easiest, fastest way to do so was to get married. (Kari writes eloquently about this in her most recent blog at http://www.bookishdark.com) "To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved deeply by someone gives you courage." (Lao Tzu)


It has been hard keeping their secret the past couple of weeks - especially when I saw my older brother last week. We hadn't talked for a month or two so in the process of 'catching up' I told him, "I have a new great-granddaughter". He countered with, "Well, I'm getting a new son-in-law". Really? Right back into the old sibling rivalry one-upsmanship? I wanted so badly to say: "Well, so am I and it will be sooner than you!" But I didn't. I kept the secret.

 "It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages." (Friedrich Nietzsche)
I wished so much I could be with my daughter on her wedding day, but as that was not to be, I was glad she and Ken had two of their best friends, Corvus and Rachel, to be with them as their witnesses and to celebrate with them at a wedding supper afterwards.

"We seek the comfort of another. Someone to share and share the life we choose. Someone to help us through the never ending attempt to understand ourselves. And in the end, someone to accompany us along the way." (Marlin Finch Lupus)

"Come live with me and be my love, share my bread and wine. Be wife to me, be life to me, be mine.
Come live with me and be my love, let our dreams combine. Be mate to me, be fate to me, be mine.
I will try to do my best for you. I swear, I promise you, I will cry for you, I will comfort you my whole life through. 


Come live with me and be my love, share my bread and wine. Be a part of me, be the heart of me. Be mine.
(Lyrics by Ware, Martin and Gregory. Versions sung by Ray Charles and, my fave, Roy Clark)

I wish you much happiness and a lifetime of love and sharing.  ........Mom