Recently during a conversation with The Dave it transpired that we had lost our belief in the existence of God, which obviously means we no longer class ourselves as being religious. It would be understating the fact to say it was something of an epiphany. Both of us have been brought up to follow the Church of England faith, I sang in the church choir when at primary school, went to Sunday School and we are both christened and I am confirmed. We had our wedding in a church and later had all three of our daughters christened in the same church. So it was part of our life, we just accepted it all without question.
However, the past 17 years have been difficult, we have experienced many challenges both as husband and wife but also as parents. This has slowly impacted on our belief about the world, why things happen and God. It wasn't until recently when it somehow came up in conversation that it dawned on us that we had just been following the path laid out for us without any real conviction. That really, the truth is, after all these years we don't actual believe in God at all. HOWEVER, we are not about making this a huge issue about belief, honestly we don't care whether or not you believe in God if we like you we like you and that's that, we are not anti people who have a faith at all ~ it's just not for us personally any more.
We have "come out" about this as it impacts on how we live our life and how we make future choices. I feel we should all be allowed to follow what we believe in without discrimination and make life choices accordingly, providing it doesn't impact negatively on anyone or thing.
This epiphany has made it somehow seem important to renew our wedding vows in a none religious ceremony to make it a "real" marriage for us. Legally we have been married since 1993 but we both feel we need to do it again our way to make it feel legitimate. It is also a good time to celebrate the years we have been together, everything we have overcome, that we remain united and stronger than ever. Family, for us, is everything ~ we live for those we love and want to celebrate this with them.
So, we have set the date, the 4th June 2016 will see The Dave and myself renewing our vows in a setting and ceremony that reflects who we are today,. It is something we feel strongly about and hope that our family and friends who are religious can accept our new direction and feel able to join us on the day and celebrate with us.
We are planning it as a low key, joyful celebration of our life together, our daughters and our enduring love. We are excited, it just feels the right thing to do and the right decision for us, new wedding rings and fresh beginning for the next episode of our marriage.
We are planning the day together as a family, the girls, The Dave and myself are all making sure we all put a piece of our personalities into the day, most of it will be home~made and definitely a casual, happy, lively, fun filled day focusing on happiness,, laughter, family and friendships.
Let's Celebrate!
x~X~x
No comments:
Post a Comment