Blessings Renewed

I tell her that morning to meet me at Billings Bridge.

I watch the clock, and leave work at precisely 5:00 pm. I bike the long way down Riverside, until it approaches Bank Street, and pull off into Billings Bridge Plaza. I have half an hour. A half hour gives me just enough time.
Later, we are picnicking besides the Rideau River, beside a small island. Black swans and ducks are swimming nearby, as we sit on the rocks eating hummus. She tells me what she is giving me for our anniversary - we will finally convalidate our marriage in the Catholic Church by renewing our vows.

I resisted this for a long time. After all, I was a protestant, and a minister from my denomination married us. Shouldnt that count? After all, couples marry each other - priests and ministers are only witnesses.
But I went through RCIA and converted. We both realize what it is that this means. We are effectively getting married a second time, in a church that does not recognize divorce, and only begrudgingly grants annulments. And no catholic tribunal will grant an annulment now, not when we so clearly demonstrate our full intention. We are joined forever now.

We promised decades ago that we would love, honour, and cherish one another. In two Sundays, we will put the seal on that promise. Our fates are bound up together, our lives interwound so completely that we can no longer tell entirely where one of us begins and the other ends.

What a gift I've been given. I am far luckier a man than I have any right to be.