Happy Beginnings

You know what's better than happy endings?

Happy beginnings.

For those of you who have followed the blog a long time, my niece Amber remains cancer free and she is now OFFICIALLY my niece. Amber and my nephew Cary celebrated their wedding Saturday, Sept. 3. Amber described the evening as "magical" and it's the perfect word. It was enchanting. So much love and happiness in one room.

Amber and Cary gave me the honor of reading a poem by James Kavanaugh at the wedding. It's a lovely piece, so I'll share it here. Thanks to all of you who sent good thoughts and prayers to Amber and Cary as they triumphed over cancer. Now, please join me in wishing two of my favorite people a long, healthy, happy life together!

To love is not to possess,

To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one's self in another.
Love is to join and separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find a laughing freedom
That lonely isolation does not permit.
It is finally to be able
To be who we really are
No longer clinging in childish dependency
Nor docilely living separate lives in silence,
It is to be perfectly one's self
And perfectly joined in permanent commitment
To another--and to one's inner self.
Love only endures when it moves like waves,
Receding and returning gently or passionately,
Or moving lovingly like the tide
In the moon's own predictable harmony,
Because finally, despite a child's scars
Or an adult's deepest wounds,
They are openly free to be
Who they really are--and always secretly were,
In the very core of their being
Where true and lasting love can alone abide.