Passages of Life

My eldest son Marc and his wife Donna
Marc celebrated his birthday on the 13th.

Life took over recently hence a break from blogging. It's been a time of celebrating some of the important passages of life for family and friends as well as in my work as a celebrant.We had three family birthdays recently - my grandson Codey was 14 on March 9, my youngest son, Kent, was 36 on the 11and my eldest son, Marc, was 47 on the 13.


Celebrating is so important especially when all we hear on the news is doom and gloom stories. One of my favourite celebrating quotes is by Jonathan Lockwood Huie who has been dubbed 'The Philosopher of Happiness.' 


'Celebrate! Celebration is an expression of Gratitude. Gratitude is like the prayer while Celebration is the hymn and sacred dance. Celebration is its own road to happiness.' How right he is. 


I receive daily quotes from Jonathan that I find uplifting and inspiring on a personal level as well as providing a real source of useful quotes for my work as a celebrant so go to www.daily-inspiration-quotes.com/jonathan-lockwood and check this site out.


I hosted a Hen Party Dinner for a friend last Friday who is getting married in a week or so where I will be both the Marriage Celebrant and the M.C. Incidentally I am also the florist - echoes of my days when I had a florist shop - a career I loved because working with flowers and foliage is so creative and calming - except on Valentines Day, Mothers Day or a wedding that is! 
Nowadays however, it's just something I do for family or friends. 


Going back to the Hen Party we had a wonderful evening sharing stories and advice - usually humorous I have to say - while we enjoyed a delicious Pot Luck dinner accompanied by fine wines and a fruit punch.


Our friend, Sylvia, is part Italian so I did some research on Italian customs and traditions pertaining to engagements and weddings and discovered some interesting facts. In the past, Italian wedding engagements were usually orchestrated by the families of the bride and groom. Lineage was of the most importance, and if the bride's father had any doubts, negotiations could stop in their tracks. In some cases, a matchmaker sent a message (masciata) to the prospective bride's family of the man's hope to marry. If her family found the groom's proposal acceptable, there would be wedding bells and a marriage. 

As with many a modern brides, diamond engagement rings have been popular with Italian brides since the 1400's. Well as the song goes - 'diamonds are a girl's best friend!' Apparently, Italians have long held the belief that diamonds are created by the flames of love and in medieval times Italian, grooms even paid for their brides with precious stones. 


We learn something everyday don't we?


We presented our friend with a book I had compiled with help from her girl friends, full of useful recipes, household hints, wise advice from the 19 Century and modern times, as well as humorous anecdotes and jokes, wise words and more for both Bride and Groom-to-be. Such as -


 ‘I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for 
marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewellry.’ - Rita Rudner


 To the groom: if you want her to have sex, do the dishes!
To the bride: if you want him to do the dishes, have sex! - Anon


'Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy.' - Leo Tolstoy


‘If your wife laughs at your joke, it means you either have a good joke, or a good wife’. - Anon

So an evening of gratitude and happiness was enjoyed by all the women present as we celebrated our friend's happiness and her coming marriage.


Saturday was when I donned my Marriage Celebrant's hat to take a wedding on Waihi Beach for a delightful young couple. It was a real Kiwi Beach Wedding, the guys in jeans and dark shirts and jandals - of course! - and the Bride looking gorgeous in her white wedding dress and circlet of miniature white roses accompanied by her lovely bridesmaids in brilliant blue dresses and a wee flower-girl scattering petals on the sand. With the guests decked out in summer clothes, music to set the scene,together with the perfect weather against the coastal backdrop everything went really well.


Sunday was celebrating birthdays day with lunch at the Villa Maria Vineyard Cafe with my youngest son, Kent, and his lovely partner, Tina. Where have those thirty six years gone since he was born? Then it was a family dinner at my daughter Leah and her husband, Tony's home for grandson Codey who was celebrating turning fourteen so wonderful family celebrations enjoyed by all. 
Today I rang my eldest son who lives in the UK to wish him Happy Birthday and catch-up on his news. I really miss him but nothing can stop me celebrating his special day and sending him reminders of home.


Late this afternoon I had a wedding rehearsal to go to and it was such fun we had a ball and isn't that what celebrating is all about.I just know that the wedding is going to be an amazing celebration full of gratitude, joy, fun and happiness.


Tomorrow I am taking a funeral - a Life Celebration of another kind but an equally important one for it is usually the last time to publicly honour and celebrate a person's life in words, music and more often these days, with an audio-visual presentation that will evoke such special memories.


Yes! Celebration is the road to happiness - we should celebrate every moment that we are given to live and to mark the passages of our lives with humble gratitude. It is in the daily celebrations of life that we truly discover our bliss for among the sorrows, the darkness, the despair and the challenges of life there is always something to celebrate.

As  Jonathan Lockwood Huie says, 'only when life is difficult are we challenged to become our greatest selves.' 

How true. Now that is certainly something to celebrate!