TOPIC: When love expands and deepens over time
| "This Love" - Free Download |
WHO HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO LOVE?
Can you think of someone you have chosen to love (not the family, "born-into" kind of love, but consciously CHOSEN to love) for 5 years straight? How about 10? 20? What happens to love when it is regularly invited to expand and deepen over time? And what does it mean to "renew" that love? Is there a "refresh" button we can press in a long-term relationship, and if so, what would that feel like?
Can you think of someone you have chosen to love (not the family, "born-into" kind of love, but consciously CHOSEN to love) for 5 years straight? How about 10? 20? What happens to love when it is regularly invited to expand and deepen over time? And what does it mean to "renew" that love? Is there a "refresh" button we can press in a long-term relationship, and if so, what would that feel like?
IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU SEEK TO "RENEW" THAT LOVE?
I have always been intrigued by the choice some couples make to renew their wedding vows. And I am always really thrilled when a couple I admire chooses to make that journey by creating a "couple song"--a song specifically about and for themselves, capturing the essence of who they are and how they have journeyed together--in conjunction with me. And then I am pretty much over the MOON when it is someone from right here in my hometown, who has invited me to be present for the event, to sing their song for them, and to allow me to be part of it all. And then, if this couple just HAPPENS to be the parents of THE WORLD'S GREATEST BABYSITTER EVER, whose every move my two boys pretty much WORSHIP, well....consider me to be a puddle on the floor. How good does it get? Where do I sign?
THE STORY OF ALLISON AND TOM
What I was most struck by in sitting for this Song Interview with Allison and Tom was that they spent a lot of time describing the moment they first "fell in" (realized together how strong their connection was). But THEN, after doing that, they spent the entire remainder of the interview talking about all the ways that that initial moment has given way to all the other moments. I found something about this truly stunning. I think we live in a culture where the moment of falling in love is glamorized, and everything that comes after it is sort of "never quite as good, but, oh well, try to make the best of it, OK?" Whereas with Allison and Tom, I found I was sitting across from a couple who had somehow (luck? devotion? belief?) managed to take that initial moment and invite it to expand into something larger, that lives on, and that offers up an incredible amount of giving to all those around them. What I saw when I looked at them was what is possible when two people keep asking each other:
Will you keep moving toward me?
What I saw was two people who keep answering that question, over and over again, with millions of different iterations of one simple answer:
YES.
I have always been intrigued by the choice some couples make to renew their wedding vows. And I am always really thrilled when a couple I admire chooses to make that journey by creating a "couple song"--a song specifically about and for themselves, capturing the essence of who they are and how they have journeyed together--in conjunction with me. And then I am pretty much over the MOON when it is someone from right here in my hometown, who has invited me to be present for the event, to sing their song for them, and to allow me to be part of it all. And then, if this couple just HAPPENS to be the parents of THE WORLD'S GREATEST BABYSITTER EVER, whose every move my two boys pretty much WORSHIP, well....consider me to be a puddle on the floor. How good does it get? Where do I sign?
THE STORY OF ALLISON AND TOM
What I was most struck by in sitting for this Song Interview with Allison and Tom was that they spent a lot of time describing the moment they first "fell in" (realized together how strong their connection was). But THEN, after doing that, they spent the entire remainder of the interview talking about all the ways that that initial moment has given way to all the other moments. I found something about this truly stunning. I think we live in a culture where the moment of falling in love is glamorized, and everything that comes after it is sort of "never quite as good, but, oh well, try to make the best of it, OK?" Whereas with Allison and Tom, I found I was sitting across from a couple who had somehow (luck? devotion? belief?) managed to take that initial moment and invite it to expand into something larger, that lives on, and that offers up an incredible amount of giving to all those around them. What I saw when I looked at them was what is possible when two people keep asking each other:
Will you keep moving toward me?
What I saw was two people who keep answering that question, over and over again, with millions of different iterations of one simple answer:
YES.
This Love
From Allison and Tom, to One Another
In Celebration of 25 Years
Long ago in a world before
We began to know what was in us
Moving slowly towards a beginning
Moving slowly towards one single instant
When the whole world turned to swirling lights
I first saw inside your eyes
The warm wide light
The warm wide light
Of you and I
Oh how we’ve grown since we walked through that door
I feel it in my soul what this love is here for
And I’ve walked through fires with you
And I’ve walked through
Wonder at what we can do
And how our world has grown since we’ve known what love can do
Three strong lives from this love are here now too
And in their faces I see all we know to give
In each face, an invitation to live
As the whole world turns to swirling life
The circle grows and dances wild
In the warm wide light
The warm wide light
Of this love, this love
For all our life
Performing at Allison and Tom's Renewal Ceremony THE EVENT
I loved singing at this event. I loved getting choked up watching Tom and Allison renew the very same vows they had read twenty years earlier at their wedding. I was moved to tears watching their young daughter stand up all on her own and sing in honor of her parents. I loved watching their sons stand up and speak (WORLD'S GREATEST BABYSITTER IN THE HOUSE!) But mostly I loved the way I felt inspired about love all over again. I loved the way I could feel myself rising up and asking myself,
"What are the ways I am saying YES to my partner every day, and what is the opportunity here, in terms of expanding that, standing even more fully inside of it, with the one I love?"
I felt like it woke me up in some important way--reminded me once again of how precious it is to love and be loved, and to know that you are being asked over and over again, every day, "Will you rise up and greet this love with all of your heart?" I LOVE what it feels like when the answer to this question is:
YES!
I loved singing at this event. I loved getting choked up watching Tom and Allison renew the very same vows they had read twenty years earlier at their wedding. I was moved to tears watching their young daughter stand up all on her own and sing in honor of her parents. I loved watching their sons stand up and speak (WORLD'S GREATEST BABYSITTER IN THE HOUSE!) But mostly I loved the way I felt inspired about love all over again. I loved the way I could feel myself rising up and asking myself,
"What are the ways I am saying YES to my partner every day, and what is the opportunity here, in terms of expanding that, standing even more fully inside of it, with the one I love?"
I felt like it woke me up in some important way--reminded me once again of how precious it is to love and be loved, and to know that you are being asked over and over again, every day, "Will you rise up and greet this love with all of your heart?" I LOVE what it feels like when the answer to this question is:
YES!
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