So Are You To Me

Happy Labor Day weekend!! Labor Day weekend is a favorite of mine... it's usually the most beautiful weather weekend of the year, and it's a last sweet taste of summer, mingled with the delicious feeling of early fall and the arrival of September. During college, it was always that chance to go home to the warmth and comfort of my family just after school and syllabus shock had threatened to set in. Labor Day weekend feels like crawling back into bed with cool, clean sheets on a Saturday after you woke up and thought it was a school day. It's so lovely, wouldn't you agree?

But of course, Labor Day weekend four years ago, was the most lovely of all. It was the weekend Neal and I chose for our wedding day. If there is a crisp, cool morning, with pure blue sky and warm sun this weekend, you'll know what it felt like to be at our wedding. That, and I've included a set of pictures to help you see it (or remember it) more vibrantly.

It was unpretentious and family-oriented, with kids and babies and church family and college friends and sisters and brothers, with love as the centerpiece. Love not just between the bride and groom, but for everyone to feast upon and celebrate. It's the best and most beautiful memory I have, and I now always spend Labor Day weekend with a full, full heart, tears, and lots of joy.

Because that's the way I roll... I love to celebrate, to feel, to remember. Life on high definition is how Neal refers to my celebratory ways.

And this year, oh this year. We never, never would have seen this devastating health crisis coming on the pages of our newlywed book. (And yes, we still consider ourselves newlyweds.) But our year has made this anniversary celebration so much richer and deeper. I didn't see that coming. Somehow, in an unexpected way, there seems like so much more to celebrate. Because for all that was lost in life circumstance and ease, there was more patience, more serving, more sacrifice, more trust, more caring, more giving, more faithfulness, more endurance, more believing, more love and commitment there to celebrate.

My anniversary card for Neal, a letterpress card from Papersource (my favorite place for cards!), has one simple statement on it, with a picture of a tandem bicycle. It says: "I couldn't have done it without you." Thank you Papersource, for perfection. Thank you Papersource, for risking me tearing up in your little shop. Thank you Papersource, for making me spend $$$ on a card.

Now then. Enjoy the stream of pictures from our Labor Day weekend wedding, and this East Mountain South song, So Are You To Me, that was part of our wedding ceremony, as well as the music for our bride & groom dance. I've never heard it anywhere else. It's beautiful, and it's now always a part of my Labor Day weekend play list.

So Are You To Me

As the music at the banquet,
As the wine before the meal,
As the firelight in the night,
So are you to me.

As the ruby in the setting,
As the fruit upon the tree,
As the wind blows over the plains,
So are you to me.

As the lily of the valley,
So white and pure and sweet,
So are you to my eyes, to my heart, to my life.

As the sunshine to the heavens,
As the king unto his realm,
As the sailor to the helm,
So are you to me.

As the candle in the dark,
As the manna in the ark,
As the dew unto the grass,
As the image in the glass,
As the honey in the comb,
As the father in the home,
As the the sunset over the water,

So are you to me.

As the wind blows over the plains,
So are you to me.
So are you to me.