We always get a kick out of our friends, Ken and Maddy Dychtwald, who remarry (each other) every year since they originally wed in 1983.They renew vows annually in different religions and different locations. Ken and Maddy have been married in a Mayan wedding in the Yucatan, by a tribal chief in a Navajo ceremony, by a ski judge in Vail, a Buddhist ceremony, even in the Las Vegas Chapel of Love.
If anyone asks the Dychtwald's why they do this, they would simply ask why doesn't everyone do it? Based on their healthy marriage and clear commitment to each other, it makes a strong case for an annual renewal of vows! It certainly seems to work well for them!
Not to be outdone after we learned about Ken and Maddy's tradition we held an impromptu mock ceremony staged by our kids at an outdoor wedding chapel of sorts at the Waikoloa Resort in Hawaii a few years back.
This year we decided to do temple sealings, marriage by proxy, in the Oakland Temple. It was a nice thing actually; spending our wedding anniversary by performing some wedding sealings for others.
At the end of the sealings I made good use of the wedding altar to surprise Brent with a new platinum wedding band. His original was lost during a surfing excursion with buddies a few years back and I've been extremely slow in replacing it!
Beyonce does advise: "if you like it you should have put a ring on it." It just took me a long time to come to grips with the fact that we weren't likely to recover the original wedding band. The Pacific Ocean is an awfully big haystack to find a wedding ring/needle!
The diamond in my wedding ring was purchased by Brent as young missionary in South Africa. Because of the sentimental value I'm glad it's weathered all these years with only one close call when the diamond fell out. Actually, I hadn't noticed the diamond was missing and only discovered it when I leaned over from vacuuming to pick up a speck that wasn't cooperating. In an amazing stroke of luck it was my diamond! Pretty crazy!
After the incredible rescue of my diamond (circa 20 years ago) maybe I was hopeful Brent's lost ring would have a similar deliverance, perhaps falling out of surf paraphernalia years later. Maybe it still will. But, in the meantime, Brent will be sporting his classy new Tiffany's wedding band!
