Cheers to Sean and Lu

On Saturday my friends Sean and Lu got married, for the third time. The first time was on 10/10/10 in Lu's hometown in China. Then they got married here in the United States so it was all legal soon after they got back from China. And finally, the last big wedding (we think!) took place this past weekend. And here's the really cool part - I was asked to officiate.

It was such an honor. Sean is one of the first people I met in Los Angeles. We met him at church and I distinctly remember a day in September, we'd only been here a month or so, when Sean had the day off work. He met us at Homeless Lunch and took us on quite the sightseeing tour, all over Los Angeles - to some of what are now our favorite places. From there our friendship morphed into game nights and birthday celebrations and just lots of fun times together. And then he met Lu. And then we met Lu, and she's fit so seamlessly into our circle. It's amazing to watch.

I read some scripture verses and several poems on Saturday as well as helped them recite their vows. It's something I did a while back, for my friends Kelly and Jason, and it really is an honor to be a part of someone's wedding day like that. One of the poems has stayed with me - Maya Angelou's Touched by an Angel. The last bit reads like this:

And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.

When I think about that - the idea that love costs all we are and will ever be, I stop. I stop and I realize how very true that is. How I am nothing without love. Without the love of my family and my friends and even complete strangers. How I am nothing if I do not love. And yet, it's through that love that I do what I do, I am who I am, I thrive, I survive.

Sean and Lu's love brought a roomful of people together on Saturday. It's made a family and memories and forged friendships and created stories. But most of all? It's set an example for every single person in their lives to aspire to. To love. Nothing more. Nothing less. But simply, to love.