#189: I'm a married man
On Saturday, I married Sarah Elizabeth Lloyd.
At 1.30pm in the Queen Elizabeth Room of Stoke Town Hall, we exchanged vows, placed rings on our fingers and signed our certificate of marriage.
We were witnessed by 22 others. Friends and family. Not all of our friends, or all of our family, those that we felt we wanted there for the ceremonial part of our wedding.
The music played, guests smiled, cried, laughed and hugged.
We giggled, took it seriously, held hands, fidgeted nervously and spoke with clarity.
We walked out to applause, cheers and confetti.
Then we dined, we drank and leisured together into the beautiful starry night sky.
I can’t write a long newsletter about marriage yet, just these words here, because I still feel like I’m getting married.
The celebrations are not over, my feet are not on the floor, I’m still way up high in this bubble of Lloyd-Routledge love.
I’d like to leave you with one thing though, before I stop typing with my new ringed finger. A poem I read at our ceremony, a poem I wrote on Love. I’d like to read it to you.
It’s what I’ll leave you with, this poem on Love and some Crazy Talk below. Perhaps next week I’ll share more of our story on how we got married. The rituals, the ceremony, the intimacy we wanted, the money, the stress, the social pressures of weddings and more. That will all come soon enough. For now though, just Love and Crazy Talk.
Cheers,
James x
Love
Love hard
Love often
Yourself
Others
The world around you
Those closest to you
Those nearest too
Love,
even when it’s hard to
Those parts of you that you don’t want to
And when you see them in others
Love those too
Try to love
To see
To hear
To place your feet in another pair
Love your brothers
And your sisters
Love the life we have all been gifted
Love the air
The sounds
And the world all around
Love loving
And that we can love
Try to love what you see in the mirror
Or if not
Try to see it clearer
Love is our air
Our currency
Without love what would we be?
Love, because
Because to love
Is what makes us, us.
What I'm writing
What I'm reading
I write reviews of what I've read on Good Reads. Last review is of "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name" by Audre Lorde. 5*.
I'm currently reading Lord of the Rings Trilogy and will be for a while.
My book - 'Mental Health at Work'
You can order my book 'Mental Health at Work' from Amazon, Bookshop.org, Foyles, Waterstones & Audible.
Who am I?
I'm Founder of Sanctus, Author of "Mental Health at Work" and writer of this here Newspaper.
I write every week. A new blog post, poetry, reading resources and a creative journal of what I may or may not work on next.