July 26, 2014 ? Longford Lake
Gathering Words/ Introduction ? Sean
Please be seated.
Don?t these two look absolutely beautiful! And their hair! I always said Maura could grace the cover of any Irish sweater catalog. And Lindsay?Maura says when they are out in public, random people will come by and touch Lindsay?s hair!
Welcome to Longford Lake and the celebration of Maura and Lindsay?s marriage. Maura and Lindsay stand before you today to declare their commitment to each other and to celebrate with you on this wonderful occasion. Thank you for joining them today as many of you have traveled from great distances to witness this historic, sacred moment for our families. We appreciate your presence and the presence of all who are here today. And we also remember those who could not be with us today.
Maura and Lindsay chose this location because of their love for it. Indeed they spent a lot of time here while courting and became attached to Longford Lake ? as we became attached to the two of them together. Longford reflects their love of the outdoors and the beauty of nature.
Here at Longford we witness and celebrate the full richness and diverse beauty of nature. And now together we will witness and celebrate the full richness and diverse beauty within our families: the love of Maura for Lindsay, of Lindsay for Maura.
This is an emotional and joyous day, a day that could not have happened just a few short years ago. Please know that we are deeply appreciative that each of you is here to support and witness our joy at the marriage of Maura and Lindsay.
Close to 11 years ago, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote a landmark decision in a case that granted same-sex couples the freedom to marry in Massachusetts. She writes:
Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society.
Civil marriage is at once a deeply personal commitment to another human being and a highly public celebration of the ideals of mutuality, companionship, intimacy, fidelity, and family. Because it fulfills yearnings for security, safe haven, and connection that express our common humanity, civil marriage is an esteemed institution, and the decision whether and whom to marry is among life?s momentous acts of self-definition.
Justice Marshall beautifully articulates many of the reasons that marriage matters. Marriage is also about loving someone for who they really are, their faults as well as their virtues. It must be entered with integrity to fully realize mutual admiration, knowledge, peace, and support.
A brief moment in time and the stroke of the pen are all that is required to create the legal bond of marriage, but it takes a lifetime of love and compromise to make marriage durable and everlasting. It is a bold step into an unknown future. Marriage is risking who we are for the sake of who we can be.
Maura and Lindsay, you stand before us today ready to embark on your new journey of marriage.
Maura, do you take Lindsay to be your wife from this day forward? To live together and to comfort her in times of need? Do you promise to build a life filled with love and laughter, sharing all that is to come?
I do
Lindsay, do you take Maura to be your wife from this day forward? To live together and to comfort her in times of need? Do you promise to build a life filled with love and laughter, sharing all that is to come?
I do
Lindsay?s Mom Susan will now perform a reading.
Susan:
An excerpt from All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulgham
All of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned?
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Give them to someone who feels sad.
Live a balanced life.
Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day.
Take a nap every afternoon.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Sean:
Thank you Susan. And thank you for the gift of your daughter.
Those of you who know me know that I love to learn from my children. From Maura, I have learned the power of courage. The courage to know oneself, to be oneself and to be oneself publicly. When Maura was very little, she would often get discouraged because she was small. I used to whisper in her ear that she had the heart of lion. I did so to encourage her. Little did I know then, when she was two or three years old, that she does indeed have the heart of a lion.
Susan and Jim have this to share about Lindsay:
A sweet, smart, mellow girl joined our family 29 years ago. We have marveled at how determined and focused she is – always reaching her lofty goals. Her caring, loving ways that we have been fortunate to experience, she now extends to her patients. Lindsay came into this world in a quiet, reserved way. Always a thinker. She didn’t cry much, just adapted to the situation and adjusted. During your life you don’t meet many amazing people. We are blessed to have this amazing person fill our lives and be our girl.
Maura?s Mom Pat will now read a poem.
Pat:
To Love is Not to Possess?by James Kavanaugh
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.
Sean:
Thank you, Pat. And thank you for the gift of Maura.
Lindsay?s father Jim will now lead Maura and Lindsay in a tree planting.
Jim:
Lindsay and Maura will now plant a tree to symbolize the roots of their relationship, and the continued growth of their love for each other, as they become each others family today.
Maura and Lindsay have chosen to plant a magnolia tree. Every spring in Portland magnolia trees bloom, gracing us with their magnificent beauty. The blossoms have been used throughout many cultures to symbolize dignity, feminine sweetness, beauty, nobility, and a love of nature.
Maura and Lindsay, today you stand before us ready to share the rest of your lives together as a married couple. But long before today your parents provided you with the foundation of love and support which has helped bring you to this point. Maura and Lindsay will add soil from the gardens of their childhood homes and soil from the garden they have created together.
[Pour soil in pot, water]
Let your marriage be like this tree. Let it grow strong and stand tall during harsh storms and come through unscathed. As you provide the sun, soil, and water for this tree, you will provide the encouragement, trust, and love needed to consciously nurture and nourish your connection to each other.
And finally, an excerpt from Captain Corelli?s Mandolin by Louis DeBernieres.
Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes
and then subsides. And when it subsides you have
to make a decision. You have to work out whether your
roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable
that you should ever part. Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathless, it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and that is both an art and a fortunate accident. Those that truly
love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and when all the
pretty blossoms have fallen from the branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.
Sean:
Thank you, Jim. And thank you for the gift of your daughter.
Maura and Lindsay will now exchange vows.
Maura:
I promise to support you always, through calm and rough waters.
I promise to push you to be a better person, while holding myself to the same standard.
I promise to keep laughing with you, and only occasionally, at you.
I promise to cherish our relationship with nature- spending time under the stars, tending to our garden, and embarking on new adventures.
I promise to choose my battles wisely, and sometimes let you win.
I promise to embrace your individuality and independence, while still growing together.
I promise to value your family and the people who have helped shape you, and always hold them close to my heart.
I promise to love you unconditionally, and always strive to love you more than I know is possible.
Lindsay:
I promise to support you always, through calm and rough waters.
I promise to push you to be a better person, while holding myself to the same high standard.
I promise to keep laughing with you, and only occasionally, at you.
I promise to cherish our relationship with nature- spending time under the stars, tending to our garden, and embarking on new adventures.
I promise to choose my battles wisely, and sometime let you win.
I promise to embrace your individuality and independence, while still growing together.
I promise to value your family and the people who have helped shape you, and always hold them close to my heart.
I promise to love you unconditionally, and always strive to love you more than I know is possible.
Sean:
Maura and Lindsay will now exchange rings to symbolize the promises they have made to each other.
Maura, please take Lindsay?s hand and repeat these words.
I give you this ring, as a symbol of our marriage,
for today, and for all the days to come.
Wear it as a sign of what we have promised today
and know that my love is always present.
Lindsay, please take Maura?s hand and repeat these words.
I give you this ring, as a symbol of our marriage,
for today, and for all the days to come.
Wear it as a sign of what we have promised today
and know that my love is always present.
May these promises be forever cherished. May they be a sign of compassion, and a seal of happiness here and hereafter.
Finally, may you always have enough and may enough always be more than you hoped for.
I now present to you the Brady Browns!
