I Will Wait For You, I Will Say I Do

This last Sunday I had the great privilege of officiating the wedding of Jacky and Luca in Toronto. Here are the remarks I shares with them. They say it all:

As medical professionals like Jacky and Luca will tell you, the only really worthwhile exercise regime is one you will actually be able to sustain for perpetuity. For me, that has meant mall walking. I take a daily walk of at least 90 minutes in a nice air-conditioned mall.

It's odd, but I do some of my best writing on my iPod during these walks. So the day I wrote these remarks, while walking the local mall, I heard the tail end of a song by Claudia Lee, called Hollywood Sunset. Her refrain, in which she addresses her lover is, "I will wait for you; I will say I do." That kind of stopped me in my tracks, in a way a syrupy pop song shouldn't perhaps. There is something really deep about that statement. It really made me think about some deep underlying and beautiful themes in Jacky and Luca's story.

You see, many of us have experiences or encounters, where we are not ready to embrace what is right in front of us. We know that if we are just given some time we will be ready, and we even implore the Universe to wait. And sometimes, if we are really lucky, we might even hope to hear a voice answering, "I will wait for you; I will say I do."

Then, one day we are ready, and we hope, we pray, that we have not missed out, that the opportunity is still there. And miraculously it is. We hear that voice, much clearer now, "I will wait for you; I will say I do." Oddly, or perhaps not, THESE experiences or encounters are many times much more meaningful, than ones we were ready for the first time.

The thing is that it is also about THESE types of experiences that Lance Armstrong's words, moments after winning his first Tour de France, might be applied too, "If you ever get a second chance in life, you've got to go all the way!"

Now, the fact is that many of us, perhaps all of us, get second chances in life. Circumstances do wait for us, ready to say, "I do." Too often, however, we fritter away those second chances. What is beautiful and inspiring about this couple standing before us, is that they remind us that it need not be that way. We need not let those second chances escape us. We can harness them to make our lives way more meaningful. We can and we should say, "I do."

I believe that when one develops this consciousness to these second chances, this approach can strengthen one beyond belief. And when a couple in love are able to live their lives this way, together they can weather any challenge, just like Jacky and Luca...