Greetings from Scotland!
Last weekend my son Ryan married his wonderful partner, Alex.
For three days we gathered at a Scottish castle with family and friends from Australia, Scotland, England, France and Thailand. We laughed, shared stories, celebrated beneath the glass roof of an old greenhouse, and two families came together.
It rained lightly the whole time which made it even more intimate.
During the ceremony I was invited to offer a blessing. As both Ryan’s mother and someone who has spent a lifetime thinking about love, intimacy and relationships, it was one of the greatest honours of my life.
I’d like to share those words with you.
A Marriage Blessing
There’s something very special about watching your child fall in love.
As parents, we spend years helping our children learn how to walk in the world independently. But eventually, if we’re lucky, they find someone they want to walk beside.
And Ryan and Alex, when I see the two of you together, I see friendship, laughter, warmth, and genuine partnership. I see ease with one another. I see kindness. And I see two people who truly like each other, which in the long run matters just as much as love.
Today, Alex’s father has offered you a poem.
And now I would like to offer you a blessing.
Here among stone and sky, in this ancient setting, surrounded by those who love you, we witness not only a celebration, but a joining.
A weaving together of two lives.
As your hands are bound today, may it never be a binding that restricts you, but one that strengthens you.
May this relationship be a place of both refuge and adventure.
A place where each of you is both held and free.
Where you continue to grow — together and individually — through all the seasons of life.
Over the years, both life and my work have taught me something about lasting love.
It is not sustained only through the grand moments.
It is cultivated day by day.
In friendship.
In kindness.
In understanding.
In turning toward one another.
In repairing after hardship.
In choosing connection, again and again.
Over time, two lives create something greater than either alone.
Not only “you” and “me,” but an “us.”
A shared home of the heart.
My wish for you both is not a life without challenge, but a love resilient enough to meet whatever comes.
A love that remains alive.
Curious.
Tender.
Honest.
And deeply connected.
May you continue to meet one another with openness and grace.
May your friendship remain strong through the length of your life.
May your home be filled with warmth, laughter, honesty, and love.
And may your hands always find each other, again and again.
Standing there in that ancient Scottish castle, surrounded by people who loved them, I found myself feeling deeply optimistic.
Not only for Ryan and Alex.
But for love itself.
Note - No Salon while I’m on holidays!
Congratulations and beautiful heartfelt words.
Congratulations!