THINGS WE LIKED:

Liz is getting a spouse and a house.
Hutch is getting a wife and a life.
May they enjoy good health and wealth.

- Dick and Jeanne Callanan
July 28, 2000

Favorite Yogi Berra quotes that Hutch has ascribed to love, marriage, & life:
You can see a lot by observing. It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. It was impossible to get a conversation going, Everybody was talking too much. You have to give 100% in the first half of the game. If that isn't enough, in the second half, you have to give what is left.

The crossing of the threshold is the first step into the sacred zone of the universal source.

-Joseph Campbell,
from The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in his hand
Who saith, "A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust
God: See all,
Nor be afraid!..."

- Robert Browning,
from "Rabbi Ben Ezra"

Ten thousand things bright
Ten thousand miles, no dust
Water and sky one color
Houses shining along your road

- Chinese Blessing

'Tis Winter now:
the Fallen Snow
'Tis winter now: the fallen snow has left the heavens all coldly clear;
Though leafless boughs the sharp winds blow, And all the earth lies dead and drear.

And yet God's love is not withdrawn; His life within the keen air breathes;
His beauty paints crimson dawn, And clothes the boughs with glittering wreathes.

And thougha broad the sharp winds blow, And skies are chill, and frosts are keen,
Home closer draws her circle now, And warmer glows her light within.

O God! Who givest the winter's cold. As well summers joyous rays,
Us warmly in thy love enfold, And keep us on life's wintry days.

-Samuel Longfellow 1819-1892

"If music be the food of love, play on!"

Orsino in Twelfth Night by
- William Shakespeare

You are my wife.
You are my husband.
My feet shall run because of you.
My feet shall run because of you.
My eyes see because of you.
My mind think because of you.
And I shall love because of you.

- Eskimo love song.

READINGS

Celebration
Hebrew Blessings

Blessed be You, Life-Spirit of the universe, Who makes a distinction between holy and not yet holy, between light and darkness, between Shabbat and the six days of the week, between committed and uncommitted, between common goals and personal goals, between love and aloneness. Blessed be you, Who distinguishes between what is holy, and what is not yet holy.

Hebrew blessing for Sabbath end

Blessed are you, Holy one of the Earth, who creates the fruit of the vine. Holy one of the Universe, who created all things for your glory. Holy one of the World,you made man and woman in your image, after your likeness, that they might perpetuate life... Holy one of All Nature, who makes Zion rejoice with her children... Holy one of the Cosmos, who who makes bride and bridegroom rejoice. Holy one of All, who created joy gladness, bride and bridegroom, mirth and song, pleasure and delight, love fellowship, peace and friendship... "Seven Blessings".

Encouragement
Oh, the places you'll Go! By Dr. Suess

Congratulations! Today is your day. Your off to great places! Your of and away! .... © .... I know you'll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are. ©

KIDs YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS! So... be your name Robert or Henry or Hutch or Lizabeth Grace Callanan or Liz or such. Today is your day. Your off to great places! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!

Old Testament
Ecclesiastes 4:7-13

I saw emptiness under the sun: a lonely man without a friend ..... "For whom," he asks, "am I toiling and denying myself the good things of life?" ..... And, if two lie side by side they keep each other warm; but how can one keep warm by himself? If a man is alone, an assailant may overpower him, but two can resist; and a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

New Testament
Colossians, Corinthians, Phillipians

So chosen by God for this new life, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content content with second place, quick to forgive an offense, forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It is your basic, all purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other. None going and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the word of Christ- the Message - have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives.

Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let the details in your lives - words, actions, whatever - be done in the name of the Master Jesus, thanking God the father every step of the way. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always 'me first', Love doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trust God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush.
Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful on fruits from the soul, making Jesus attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.