Meant to Be…

Saturday evening, I officiated Lizzy and Aaryn’s wedding ceremony at Ten Mile Station, in Breckenridge, Colorado. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

As I sat down to write these remarks, I had a sudden revelation. This was all meant to be. What do I mean? Well, here is the interesting thing about Lizzy's name. Elizabeth or Elisheva shows up once and only once in all the Hebrew Scriptures. Guess who she marries? That's right, the first high priest of Israel, the brother of Moses, Aaron.

Fittingly, when Lizzy describes her Aaryn, he seems to possess some of the characteristics of that original Aaron. Listen to what she says: "Aaryn is the best companion. He consistently listens attentively, offers the best advice, demonstrates his love and support for me, and makes breakfast whenever I want it. He is confident, caring, perceptive, loyal, and – very important when you deal with me on a regular basis – level-headed."

Pretty cool, huh? But why do I say he has some of the original Aaron in him? Well, here is how the Rabbinic tradition describes Aaron: "Loved peace, pursued peace, loved his fellow man..." And the ancient rabbis expound on this with various legends in which they extol Aaron's character, telling us how, to paraphrase Lizzy, he was caring, supportive, loyal and yes, level-headed.

Now, Lizzy, in a self-critical manner, seems to think that level-headedness is key, when you deal with her. This tells me that one of her best qualities is that she is passionate about what she believes in, and is not afraid to not only express this, but act on it too.

The ancient rabbis see the same in the original Elizabeth, Elisheva, Aaron's wife. You may remember that Pharaoh orders the midwives of the Hebrews to help him with his genocidal plots against the Hebrews. Guess who the rabbis tell us one of the midwives was? That's right, Elisheva. These two women do what nobody else dares to do in that story. They disobey Pharaoh's orders. Elisheva refuses to go along just to get along. Sounds a lot like Lizzy...

Now, not only is Lizzy passionate; she is much much more. In fact, Aaryn describes Lizzy in a similar fashion to how she describes him. He tells us that Lizzy, "is beautiful, adorable, smart, friendly, caring, genuine, sweet, loving."

And he ends with what you sense could be a mutual statement, "I am ready to care, love, partner, parent and more with Lizzy for the rest of my life." Like I said at the beginning, Lizzy and Aaryn - they were meant to be...