Hello World!!!

I’s married now…Just Kidding! But I got your attention, didn’t I? Since Shug Avery shouted those words in one of my all-time favorite movies, “The Color Purple,” I have been waiting to say them. Maybe I will have the opportunity one day to shout those words about me and my huzzband! But for today, that hasn’t happened…

But nevertheless, it gives me great pleasure to say that on Saturday, Oct. 18, I will have the pleasure, God willing, to watch one of my dear sorors and friend, Renee, and one of the luckiest men alive, Lincoln, be joined in holy matrimony. Marriage is, indeed, a gift from God, and I’m glad that my girl is finally ready to receive her gift!

It is with her permission that I dedicate today’s post to my friend and her upcoming wedding and marriage. I met Renee about 10 years ago….I cannot really remember exactly when I met her, but from the moment I saw her effervescent smile and heard her high-pitched, raucous laugh, I knew she would be my friend.  She is one of the few people that I know that “to know her is to love her,” and I know why Lincoln was immediately smitten with her when he met her at a speed dating event some years ago. (Yes ladies, it can happen anywhere…)        

I almost have never seen her without a smile on her face, and she is an attorney of all things! In fact, my father, who has noticed her natural agreeableness, said her joy is a gift from God, and I believe that is true. A friend once mentioned to me that she had seen Renee cry once. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open in amazement. Apparently it took a few minutes for my friend to actually notice she was crying though because even as she cried, she was smiling. Ain’t that somethin’?

I know Renee is getting married not dying, but I will miss her on the single girl jaunts to Old School Second Saturday, Agave, Omega (Gotta Love the Bruhs!) cookouts and anywhere we darn well pleased…Oh well…I wonder if she will still be available to ride out on our vacations. At one point, we had a crew of five that vacationed together. Now that number has dwindled down to two (at least as of Saturday)…the rest are married…I wonder if she will still send out frantic e-mails at the end of her workday asking folk to meet her for an after work drink or will she have to head immediately home to her huzzband….I wonder if I will be able to call her late at night or will that now be couple time…    

Okay, you’ve probably guessed it…I’m elated for Renee and Lincoln, but I’m a little sad for me…But thankfully, I’m mostly elated for them. In fact, I want to share a poem I once read in a wedding program that I think applies here.

Love One Another

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread, but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together.
For the pillars of the temple stand apart.
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

Khalil Gibran

 

Also, I wanted to insert a video of a love song I hope we get to dance to at their wedding reception – probably not, but that’s okay.  I know this is a song I hope to lip synch with my huzzband on our wedding night.  Of course, I will be Margie and he (where are you?) will be Ray Charles. I hope y’all enjoy it….

One time for Renee, Two times for Lincoln, Three Times for Renee & Lincoln. If you know the happy couple, feel free to wish them well here. If don’t know the couple but are a fan of black love, drop a line.

Any thoughts?

P.S. For the rors that will be in the house on Saturday, you may want to brush up on this song…