Celebrating Life and Love in a Year That No One Could Imagine

Celebrating Life!

I vacillated back and forth as to how to write the introduction of this post. Do I recap how hard things have been this year? The sadness, despair, disappointment, and COVID? Or any of the other negative adjectives?

No, I am skipping the bad parts and going straight to the joyous part! Ok with you? Here we go!

Celebrating life in the craziest, most challenging year we can remember is the best way to look at 2020. Many people may want to erase this year, but I don’t want to forget any of it, because we have grown from it. And more importantly, as a family, we are rejoicing three very special additions to our family!

Celebrating Life and Newborn Twins!

If you have visited here before, you will know that we recently moved from Southern California to be nearer to our newborn grandchildren James and Josephine, who are now two months old! COVID has thrown our family some intense choices, and we have made the difficult decisions, endured them, and triumphed through them!

Celebrating Life and a Wedding!

We have one more joyful occasion to share with everyone who wants to celebrate with us! Our son Nick and new wife Kylie got married this month in a private ceremony with just their parents and a dear friend who officiated the vows. I hadn’t told but a couple of people, so this was a surprise to most!

Kylie and Nick were sad their family and friends couldn’t gather together because of COVID and because they truly wanted to keep everyone safe. But, love conquers all, and they decided just a few weeks ago to get married on their original date. They didn’t want to wait another year to be husband and wife.

This relatively quick decision became a wedding with everything you would dream of achieving in an intimate setting. Kylie’s grandparents own a lovely beach cottage that looks out over the Pacific Ocean in Solana Beach, CA. In a very short period of time, the newly married couple created the loveliest of weddings, and God delivered a spectacular pink sunset like no other!

It was so special!

For the table setting for eight, Kylie picked her favorite beachy hues and ordered a centerpiece and bouquet of dahlias, ranunculus, and wispy grasses and greens. Her backless, lace boho-chic dress was chosen especially for this occasion as we will celebrate again in August of 2021 (with another dress!)

Our families are our everything. I don’t recall a time in my life where this feeling for my family has been stronger. Worries about the health and welfare of our parents, families, and friends are at the forefront of our minds.

While in quarantine, we have had so much extra mind-space for worry and contemplation. Do you  feel that too? Personally, I believe I have grown a great deal from the ramifications and struggles of COVID. I want to be better for all this suffering!

Our daughter gave birth to premature twins; we abruptly moved our lives to the Pacific Northwest, and we said goodbye to our family and friends in Pasadena. And now, our son and new daughter in law made the super hard decision to go forward with a wedding without their entire families and close friends present. This is tough stuff, my friends.

However, I have great hope for the future, our love for one another, the love of newborns, and the love of a new marriage.

More Wedding Photos!

Cheers of Congratulations! Thank you!

The cheers of congratulations from you and all my friends on social media shows that we all want the same things. Our heart’s desire is for our family and friends to be safe, happy, and joyous.

Thank you for reading and for being there. Who knew our Empty Nester lives would get even more compelling in 2020? No crystal ball could have predicted what we are living today!

Let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram – Hope to see you there!

Bye for now, and please share the joys in your life in the comments below!

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