“A Successful marriage is leading innovative lives together, being open, non-programmed. It’s a free fall: how you handle each new thing as it comes along as a drop of oil on the sea, you must float, using intellect and compassion to ride the waves.” —Joseph Campbell
We began the day like any other day with our usual morning walk along the trails admiring the bright yellow irises and mustard fields followed by a 10:30 AM Ying Yang yoga class at Breathe Together yoga studio with Misako, one of our favorite teachers.
Celebrating one’s anniversary allows us to pull back from our daily routine and day-to-day chores and honor the moment that changed our lives forever. While today is our actual anniversary we began celebrating at Cin-Cin Wine Bar and restaurant this past weekend with our son-in-law Kyle’s mom Kim and her husband Al whom we admire greatly. However, Cecile and I didn’t let on that it was our anniversary since we wanted to treat them for all the wonderful holiday celebrations they include us in during the year.
Before we had kids, Cecile and I always did something that celebrated our years together, not always with a night out or gifts. Sometimes Cecile and I give each other a ‘free pass,’ from doing something special or buying something to spoil ourselves to honor another year of marriage. Before we had kids we would have dinner at a fancy restaurant or a lite dinner and a movie. Sometimes we simply ordered take out food. Since I don’t need a special occasion to bring her flowers, Cecile told me, "no flowers please you just bought me roses the other day and they are still doing well." We almost always exchange romantic Happy Anniversary cards professing our love and gratitude for one another. We passed on it this year. Instead, we are treating ourselves to a short vacay to Santa Barbara next week.
We always try to include the kids—who are grown adults—in a dinner celebration, but this year our son Jason is out of town
on business and Michelle is getting ready to return to work following three-month maternity leave.
It’s been said that Everything becomes more meaningful as you get older. Like a lucid dream, it seems like life becomes brighter and brighter the longer we live, and the reason for everything appears more clear.”
It’s been 42 years since Cecile and I decided to marry in 1977. We met in Chicago while I was a student at the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine. We moved to San Jose in 1975. My mentor, Carmine Sippo, a family friend who grew up in Sicily with my mother introduced me to the foot care profession. He was an academic dean at Wagner College in Staten Island, NY and encouraged me to apply for their pre-med program. He had my life all planned out for me. He had a contact at the podiatry school in Philadelphia and said he could
also arrange for an internship following my academic training. For some reason, I chose the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine in Chicago.
Some spiritual teachers suggest that Fate, Destiny, & Kismet relate to the idea that what happens to us in this life is predetermined, inescapable.
Others say Fate is what puts opportunities in front of us but our destiny is determined by our decisions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."
Looking back, Fate and Destiny not only created the opportunities to study Podiatric medicine but to meet Cecile, a Chicago Elementary school teacher at the time who would one day become my wife and soulmate and I will be forever grateful.
Happy Anniversary my Love!
