We’ve spent the past two evenings warmly wrapped in joy (and excellent food and drink!) as invitees to the 3 day marriage festival of our good friends’ only child.

She is marrying into a family from abroad, and the large cohort of friends and family from both sides are diverse and far flung. This reminds me so much of when we were married 11 years ago this summer; the most important aspect to both of us was the introduction of Our People, for it only stands to reason if WE love YOU, YOU will love EACH OTHER.

The excitement of introductions is viscous – you can feel the thick and clingy warmth wrapping your arms and chest long after the hug and kiss are gone, and you can taste the sweetness of connection it is so powerful among these conjoining clans.

There is so so much raw emotion here: The marrying off of an only child you have protected since birth, the acknowledgement of another level of generation coming into being, the creation of ever larger circles of friendship that have been gathered for ten minutes, ten days, ten years or nearly ten decades.

I think these events, these gatherings that literally worship the essence of “family,” not just “of blood” but equally “of choice,” are the finest, most poignant moments of our lives. We see beyond the dimness of our past lives and generations, and we see infinite horizons stretching forward where this love, this warmth of the soul, continues for infinity.

The eldest in the room, the baby on the floor, the awkward teens, the young professionals with careers in full bloom — we can sit back and see ourselves painted into this canvas for all time, taking our seat at the table, hugging, holding a touch, looking into the eyes, creating new branches to our family tree while invited to sit in the shade of many others.

I want my good friends to know how much this inclusion in this moment of their lives means to us. This is one of the strongest expressions of love, to be warmly and excitedly introduced, to feel the assuredness that the connections will be strong and lasting, to feel welcome into a home we never had but now can never lose.

If I am feeling this way after 2 nights of “getting to know one another,” I can’t imagine how wonderful tonight’s actual wedding event will be. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be present in this magnificent moment. ❤️