Afoot and light-hearted, take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before them,

The long brown path before them wherever they choose.

Henceforth, ask not good fortune, for you yourself are good-fortune,

Henceforth, whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,

Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,

Strong and content you travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,

Do not want the constellations any nearer,

They are very well where they are,

They suffice for those who belong to them.

The road is before you!

It is safe – I have tried it – my own feet have tried it well – be not detained!

Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the shelf unopen’d!

Let the tools remain in the workshop! Let the money remain unearn’d!

Let the school stand! Mind not the cry of the teacher!

Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! Let the lawyer plead in the court, and the judge expound the law.

Maybe they're love death and happiness,

sky earth fire, past present

a promise of something more; a song

half written, an image forming slowly

in solution, a truck on the highway

headed north. So this woman

walks in the door

blue eyes and a bottle of whiskey

in her fist, a woman out of

a blues song. You could say he was persistent

but Kim just says he was good,

really good, doesn't say

what that means.

Saturday morning Doug

and Kim and I ordered

eggs and pancakes at Sam's

Sourdough Cafe, talked about vows

and what was understood,

and spirals and moving outward

and circling back and Doug

leans into his chair and Kim

smiles at him and it's just not

that complicated. I see

that it's all understood and

good, really good.

Joe: In this Hand-fasting you will be bound in friendship & partnership/ happiness & sorrow/ health & sickness/ freedom & commitment/ And love from this day forth.

Kim: Your air that serves me with breath to speak!/

Your objects that call from diffusion my meanings and give them shape!/

I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me./

Doug: Your light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!/

Your paths worn in the irregular hollows by the roadsides!/

I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me./

Kim: I give you my hand!/

I give you my love more precious than money,/

I give you myself before preaching or law;/

I will come travel with you and stick by you/

For as long as we live and forever./

Doug: I give you my hand!/

I give you my love more precious than money,/

I give you myself before preaching or law;/

I will come travel with you and stick by you/

For as long as we live and forever.

Joe: Marriage is the most important of all earthly relationships. It should be entered into reverently, thoughtfully and with a full understanding of its sacred nature. Let these rings serve as a symbol of this union.

I, Doug Wacker, /

By seed and root, /

By bud and stem, /

By leaf and flower and fruit, /

By my life and my love that I share with you, /

In the name of all that is sacred within me, /

Take you, Kimberly Crosslin, to my hand, /

To my heart and my spirit /

As my wife. /

I, Kimberly Crosslin, /

By seed and root, /

By bud and stem, /

By leaf and flower and fruit, /

By my life and my love that I share with you, /

In the name of all that is sacred within me, /

Take you, Doug Wacker, to my hand, /

To my heart and my spirit /

As my husband. /

Joe: The life that you have experienced individually will hereafter be inseparably united.