full circle (piece I performed at friends' wedding) in poetry

Love is not always a straight line. Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s love at first sight, you walk into high school, you see the person in the locker next to yours and bam, fifty years later, you have a house full of grandkids for Christmas. I’ve seen it happen but it’s rarer than some think, yes, it happens and that’s wonderful but…

Love is not always a straight line. More often, love is a confusing magical dot-to-dot puzzle in looping arcs. You follow the maze life lays out for you, this roller coaster following your heart from turn to turn, place to place, person to person, searching for a place where you may finally rest in joy beside someone that is you match because…

Love is not always a straight line. Sometimes it takes you across the street, sometimes another coast, another continent, somewhere you never imagined yet there you are, following the arc of love wherever it leads. Maybe your path takes you full around the world but then by chance or act of God, you end up back where you started. After decades of learning what can makes your heart sing, you circle back to where you began and… there is love! Right there! You went out exploring, finding yourself and returned knowing yourself better, returned with the right kind of eyes to see it now, there it is!

So, it is for Erika and Dion. It wasn’t a straight line by any means that brought them back together, brought us all here together to consecrate and celebrate that love today. They knew each other some time ago but, after many adventures for the each of them, lessons learned about purpose and personality, their work their art their friends their families their faith, they found each other again. There they were and here they are, having come back around in full-circle to each other’s arms again, having come full circle to see each other anew, in love’s embrace.

I didn’t know them when they first met but I’ve been blessed to know them as they rediscovered who they are now together. I witnessed it while performing alongside them on stages in theatres and cafes, restaurants and music halls around the Mohawk Valley where they reconnected and came to know that they belong together now. Dion with his amazing musical talent including that synthesizer saxophone I’ll probably never wrap my head around entirely. Erika blossoming on those stages too, as a writer and in performer of her writing. I’ve been lucky enough to watch their love grow while working with them at open mics and shows at the Tram Cafe, at Ole Sal’s, at Utica Brews, just three examples… sharing the wonder of the arts. I’ve been so thankful to be able to watch it grow along the way!

Love is not always a straight line… and that’s marvelous. These two people, these two friends of ours, Erika and Dion, they are marvelous. Their love is marvelous. I am honored, all of us here are honored to be here today to help them commemorate their love with this union of marriage, here in front of God and the communities they’ve found along the way. Love has come full circle and it’s beautiful. You are wonderful. Thank you for allowing us all to share in your blessed day.