Imbolc Woodpecker Moon
Got to thinking today about the different times we celebrate. Secular holidays like 4th of July and Labor Day. Religious holidays like Hanuka, Christmas, Ramadan, Holi. And personal holidays like birthdays and anniversaries.
Thought about birthdays. We do not choose to be born. As Martin Heidegger says, we are thrown in to the world: parents, family, era, genetic inheritance. So the birthday celebrates that moment when we officially began the ancientrail of life, situated between its dark, wet beginnings and its unknown end. Still, it’s a random event, a chance meeting of a particular sperm and a particular egg on a particular day.
An event preceded by also unique events where two people literally penetrate the usual shell between humans and become intimate, then in that intimacy become sexual. And even then, it’s the sexual experience over time, months maybe, maybe years that allows the random act of creation to occur.
Our anniversaries, especially wedding anniversaries, though, are quite different. They celebrate choices we made, two people choosing each other as life partners. So, not random, we are not, at least in Western culture, thrown into marriage. Yes, of course, the odds of this person meeting that one are large, but obviously not insurmountable.
Tonight, when Kate and I sit down at D’Amico Kitchen for our 22nd anniversary dinner, we celebrate an intentional coming together. One we’ve enjoyed every day of those 22 years. Worth celebrating.
