“When I saw you two up there on the rock, I thought to myself ‘they’ve either been married for 15 minutes or for 50 years.’”
We were trying to take our own picture and were obviously struggling to do so given our precarious perch atop the jetty. The stranger down below smiled at our predicament and climbed the rocks of his own accord and asked if he might do the honors.
So sweet.
Later, walking along the beach we collected sand dollars while trying to avoid the backwash from the retreating-then-returning rolling surf.
With time our names would disappear with the incoming tide leaving no trace we had been there at all.
Still, though foaming bubbles and relentless seas would erase that moment, and our shadows cast upon the daisies would fade with the setting sun, we had found that of which John Robbins (of Baskin-Robbins fame) discovered when he said that “inventing a thirty-second flavor was not an adequate response” for living out the purpose he’d discovered for his life, as described by Kouzes and Posner in “The Leadership Challenge.”
You need, said Robbins, “to find your voice, the song that’s within your heart,” one that you can “sing with your life.”
I have found mine.
No better song I believe there is to sing,
No better purpose than to cherish the one who wears my ring,
No better legacy to leave with my life,
Nothing better than to love my wife.
Leave a Reply