anniversary

Hymn of the Day–“Go, My Children, With My Blessing”

We sung these three stanzas of “Go, My Children, with My Blessing,” at our wedding 10 years ago. I still think the wedding verse is beautiful, and really captures the joy found in a Christian marriage:

Go, My children, with My blessing,
Never alone.
Waking, sleeping, I am with you;
You are My own.
In My love’s baptismal river
I have made you Mine forever.
Go, My children, with My blessing–
You are My own.

In this union I have joined you
Husband and wife,
Now, My children, live together
As heirs of life:
Each the other’s gladness sharing,
Each the other’s burdens bearing,
Now, My children, live together
As heirs of life.

I the Lord will bless and keep you
And give you peace;
I the Lord will smile upon you
And give you peace:
I the Lord will be your Father,
Savior, Comforter, and Brother.
Go, My children; I will keep you
And give you peace.

There are two additional verses which can replace verse three above, so the hymn can be used for regular services, as well, (the first of which is particularly meaningful to me):

Go, My children, sins forgiven,
At peace and pure.
Here you learned how much I love you,
What I can cure.
Here you heard My dear Son’s story;
Here you touched Him, saw His glory.
Go, My children, sins forgiven,
At peace and pure.

Go, My children, fed and nourished,
Closer to Me;
Grow in love and love by serving,
Joyful and free.
Here My Spirit’s power filled you;
Here His tender comfort stilled you.
Go, My children, fed and nourished,
Joyful and free. Lutheran Service Book #922

Ten Years

Today is our tenth wedding anniversary. Being the sentimental sort that I am, I can’t help but look back over those ten years, and all of the changes we’ve experienced, some very bittersweet.

I’m remembering dear loved ones, family and friends, who are no longer with us. While I rejoice that they are home with our Lord, it still makes me sad to remember those who are no longer here to celebrate this day with us, especially our baby who we never got a chance to know.

The church in which we were married is in the process of moving to a new building. It makes me very sad to think that the church building (the same one in which I was baptized and confirmed) will no longer be used for regular worship, that other happy events will no longer take place there. I am, however, very grateful that the congregation remains intact, because they are the soul of the church, not the building itself.

The restaurant at which we had our reception has been razed. I had always hoped to go back there someday, and have a regular dinner, but we just never got around to it before it was torn down. Again, I’m sad to think that events as happy as our wedding won’t have the chance to take place there.

Even the resort at which we spent our honeymoon has been sold. This was another place I thought we’d go back to someday–maybe for our 25th anniversary or something. We could go to one of the “sister resorts,” in the future, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t be quite the same.

My bittersweet memories even recall the somewhat ridiculous–I’m sad that Friends is no longer on TV. You see, Monica and Chandler’s “wedding” was the night before ours, and I watched, so excited to see my day playing out on my favorite sitcom. OK, it wasn’t actually *my* day, but I still felt it was something we shared, and once that season came out on DVD, we started watching it on our anniversary (or the night before), every year. Then again, I’m very happy that we are able to watch it and reminisce every year!

Even when I look back at the path I *thought* our life was going to take, I feel a little bittersweet. Where we ended up is so much better than I could have dreamed, and yet, it’s not where we planned to be. But you know the old saying: “Man plans, God laughs.”

In spite of all that, I look back over these last ten years, and I am so happy and grateful. I have a happy marriage, four beautiful children, a nice home, and we belong to a fantastic church. I couldn’t have seen all of that coming down the road ten years ago, and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world!

The Anniversary Waltz

“Tell me I may always dance
The Anniversary Waltz with you.
Tell me this is real romance,
An anniversary dream come true.
Let this be the anthem
To our future years,
To millions of smiles
And a few little tears.
Tell me I may always dance
The Anniversary Waltz with you.”

Quote of the Day

I know that it’s just a TV show, but I’ve always thought that this speech from Richard Gilmore, at the party celebrating his and his wife Emily’s 40th anniversary/vow renewal, (thus the humor of the “second wife” line) is very sweet:

“Thank you. On behalf of myself and my second wife, Emily, I would like to thank you all for coming here to help us celebrate. You are good friends, and we are very, very lucky. Now, in planning our traditional first dance, I gave a lot of thought to the song that would represent the next phase in our marriage. The best phase in our marriage, I believe. I went over all the greats–Bennett, Sinatra, Chuck Berry–and a story popped into my head. Now, most of you know my daughter, Lorelai. When Lorelai was three, she went through a period of having chronic ear infections. It was terrible. Screaming all night long, we couldn’t keep a nanny longer than a week.

And so, it fell to Emily to sit with her all night long. She tried everything to calm her down. Finally, she found a song that seemed to soothe her. It was a popular song on the radio and it soon became Emily’s favorite. Of course, it drove me crazy–some woman complaining about how she wanted to marry a man named Bill. Not exactly Cole Porter. Emily would tease me, saying, ‘If only your name was Bill, then this could be our song.’ Well, Emily, for tonight, and tonight only, my name is Bill, and this is our song. Hit the button, Johnny. Your hand, madam.” Edward Herrmann as Richard Gilmore in Gilmore Girls

Seven is the New Ten is the New Sixty!

It used to be that 60 years of marriage was considered the diamond anniversary. Then, the “modern” list of anniversary gifts came out, and all of the sudden, 10 years is a diamond year. That’s quite a jump, from 60 down to 10! Of course, the modern list has diamonds for several anniversaries, and any number of gemstones and luxury items where they didn’t used to be (gone are the days of paper, cotton and leather–now it’s clocks, china and crystal!), but even so, cutting off the wait time by 50 years seems extreme.

It does make one wonder at the change. Is it because our society is so impatient, and so used to instant gratification that we can’t stand to wait until we’ve been married for 60 years? Is it because, even though life expectancies are longer, people are marrying later in life, thus making it less likely that they’ll be married for 60 years or longer? Or is simply that, with the divorce rate what it is, people want to get what they can while the getting is good? Any and/or all of these seems to me to be a viable possibility.

At any rate, even though we’re only celebrating our seventh anniversary this year, my wonderful husband got me a beautiful anniversary ring. Now, I’m a fairly patient sort of person, so it really wasn’t a matter of not being able to wait until our tenth (or sixtieth, I suppose) anniversary. And we got married young enough, so that’s not a problem. I’m also damn sure we won’t be getting a divorce, so it wasn’t a matter of doing the ring thing now, because we might not be together in a few years.

No, it was simple math. Thanks to Uncle Sam, and the economic stimulus package, we had the money now. With four children, we are fully aware that we may not have the money in three, thirteen or even thirty years, but here’s the government, giving us blow money, which is our civic duty to spend to try and help the economy limp along. So, good stewards of our money that we are (most of the time) we rendered unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and did some shopping, not the least of which is my new ring. I am very grateful for my new pretty, and while I would have been willing to wait until whatever anniversary was deemed appropriate to receive diamonds, I’m glad I didn’t have to!