Vows with a punch

I have performed perhaps my sixtieth wedding a few hours ago, but this time I witnessed the saying of vows with more punch, more uninhibited respect than I've ever heard said anywhere. Shannon and Russ are a couple who call themselves soul-mates. I've heard this before from a few other couples, but there are elements of this couple's story that speaks to a destiny that may have originated in a past life (or two).

These two were robust in their vows, direct, excited and committed from the bottom of their feet to the tops of their heads to make the meaning come through and let the world know this is for them as real as real will ever get. I have a theatre background and I've played the role of Juliet and seen the Shakespearean play many times. I've always heard the famous words resound with a piercing force only Shakespeare could give young lovers: "It is the east and Juliet is the sun!"

Shannon and Russ are hardly children (like the young teens in Romeo and Juliet) and they've been together four years already. But their passion for the vows was unlike any I've heard. For these two were not afraid to speak from the deepest corners of their souls and to let the world quake with the energy of their inner life. Both of them crying and deeply moved by the import of their moment, they pushed past their quavering nerves and free-flowing tears and made the vows memorable. What an extraordinary privilege to witness their marriage.