I just moved out of Walnut Street Cooperative, the intentional community i founded four and a half years ago.

This has been a hugely emotional process for me, mostly a good one, but i still have some grieving to do about leaving a place that i started and put so much of myself into.

The decision to move kinda snuck up on us. After J and i got engaged, we thought that we would still live in our separate homes, but sometime
before the wedding, J and i knew, just absolutely knew, that we wanted to live in the same house.

Folks at the coop threw THREE going-away parties for me. We've all decided that our intention is to expand the community across the street
to J's house, rather than lose me as a member. We did a ritual where we literally tied the two houses together. Then everyone poured beer on
my head; i guess it just seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyway, i'm super excited about the potential for our communities to grow.

Neither of us really were all that into the marriage thing. But you know, we've been together for about five years and it just felt right. Really right; like we couldn't _not_ get married… Ya'know?

Our wedding ceremony was on June 3rd on a beautiful piece of land, up in the hilly forests of Portland. Friends lent us the land, and another
good friend of ours officiated the ceremony. It was an incredible thoroughly hippie / pagan wedding. We even got married on a bridge over
a bubbling stream. We were surrounded by eighty of our close friends and family. Jai and I cried through the whole ceremony and, from the
pictures, it looks like most of the audience did too.

We wrote the ceremony ourselves, here are the vows we wrote:

———————-

I wish to join my life with yours
To stand by your side and sleep in your arms
To be joy to your heart and food to your soul
To work as partners and live as family
while we grow old together.

I vow to be your ally as you grow
To support you in your dreams
To hold faith in you even when you don't have faith in yourself
To share your joys and successes.
To see you in your vision

I vow to be true to myself
To care for myself
To love, honor and respect myself
Because I know that what I give myself I can then give to you.

I promise to listen carefully and to speak the truth
to risk being vulnerable and to practice being present,
To stay with you through struggles and pleasures
To hold you in my heart all the days of my life

Will you accept me and all that I am?

———————-

I composed two classical chamber pieces which were performed for our procession and recession at the beginning and end of the ceremony.
Afterwards we had a marvelous dinner and a dance party.

We've posted hundreds of wedding photos here: http://www.j-and-g-wedding.info

We have a new last name. When J and i decided to get married, we decided to both change our last names. After considering
hundreds of Irish (my racial background) names and Arabic (J's racial background) names, we both got excited about a name that is neither Irish nor Arabic. Ah well…

The day after the ceremony, J and i borrowed a car from her parents (we still live car-free) and drove up to British Columbia. We bounced
around Vancouver, Victoria and other parts of the province for about two and half weeks. It was wonderful.

A big chunk of our honeymoon we spent ocean kayaking in the Desolation Sound (on the pacific, near the northern tip of Vancouver Island.) We
camped every night, packed in our own food, and kayaked about ten or thirteen miles a day. The only people we saw were the others in our
group. The ecosystem up there is totally unspoiled; we saw sea stars and seals and bald eagles.

Breathtaking doesn't even cover it. On the last day of the kayaking trip, a storm came in and we nearly had to be rescued by a sea taxi. It
was a blast. If you can ever get up there, i highly recommend it.

Is this thing on?