The way of the swan

When we looked toward Christmas this year, we also looked toward a week full of wedding and anniversary activities and celebrations. 

Last Friday, we attended the reception of our friends, Helen and John, who were married nine months ago, but delayed their formal reception until Helen's parents could come from China.

Today, Coty and I celebrate our 32nd anniversary. (Happy Anniversary, sweetheart.  I love you more every year!)  We are putting off our celebrating til things quiet down around here a little bit, because tonight ...

we attend the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for our friends, Rick and Rachel, and tomorrow evening is their wedding.

Also, tomorrow our nephew Gray and his fiance, Sasha, are coming to visit from Virginia.  Coty will be officiating at their wedding next September and we are going to spend some with them going through some of the material that we normally use when we do premarital counseling with couples at our church.

Finally, on Sunday, New Year's Day, Thomas and Kay celebrate their first anniversary.

In honor of all of these special days and special people, a few lines from a poem I read recently:

"On the Marriage of friends" 

by Greg Delanty

So you have chosen the way of the swan ...

Did you know the life-coupling way

of the swan is also that of the crow?

And there'll be crow black days

you'll caw at each other with blind gusto.

But there'll be times when you'll sing

the duet of the black-collared barbet,

with the first part of the song sung

by one and the second by the mate.

We wish you now many such duet days

and sing for you like the red-eyed vireo

who sings nonstop through the summer blaze

on this day you take the way of the swan & crow.

*Please do click over to the links, if you want to know why the poet chose these particular birds.  If you're interested, I read the poem in a lovely little book called Bright Wings which is edited by Billy Collins and illustrated by David Allen Sibley.