Come As You Are

On Friday, July 28th, we're having a backyard anniversary party here at our home. We've been planning this for about a month. We're excited about this event. There will be about 30 people joining us for scrumptious food, great company, live entertainment by the incredible Jonny Debit, desserts, a special guest, and door prizes. It'll be a fun day and evening for all.

Lisa and I have known each other for 20 years. We've been married for 5 years. Originally, we had no plans on making a big deal about the first 5 years. However, in the past couple of years, we've lost almost a dozen friends and family to illness and old age. Life is short. We choose to celebrate often. That includes our 5 year wedding anniversary.

This is a portion of the inside of our wedding invitations we sent out over 5 years ago. The theme of our wedding was "Come As You Are." Our wedding anniversary party on Friday is the very same theme..."Come As You Are."

A lot of people have asked, "What does that mean exactly?" Well, for starters, it begins with "show up dressed in what's comfortable for YOU." At our wedding, we told people to dress in what they were most comfortable in. Summer dresses. Shorts. T-Shirts. Tank tops. Flip flops. Mini skirts. Etc.

To dig a little deeper, the term "Come As You Are" means show up...in all of your beautiful YOU-NESS. It doesn't matter who you are. The color of your skin. Your size. Your shape. The personal imperfections that you're self-conscience about most of the time. The color of your hair. Who you choose to love. Who you're married to. The home you live in. The car you drive. Your religious beliefs. Your political beliefs. Your accent. How many tattoos or body piercings you have. Who or what you worship. How educated you are. Where you work. What profession you've chosen. Your financial status.

None of that matters.

What matters is that you show up. You're here. To celebrate LOVE and LIFE. Diversity. To share food. Drink. Conversation. Laughs. To listen to some of the best music here in Connecticut...one of which will be here Friday evening, Jonny Debit. And, like at our wedding, you get up and applaud. Dance. Sing. People who hadn't danced in decades got up and danced the night of our wedding. We want the same thing for our anniversary party. Get your groove on!

We are SOOOOOOO looking forward to Friday evening!! It's all about you. Us. The love. Life. Celebrating all of it.