Sing...Sing a Song...

so the other night (tuesday, actually) stephen and i met with the lady who will be officiating our commitment ceremony. she's absolutely lovely; down to earth, warm, very polite, easy to talk to and nothing at all like i had pictured her. she reminds me of the nuns we had back in grammar school (all the good/sweet aspects, none of the bitter/evil aftertaste). all in all i liked her very much and we'll deffinitely be employing her services.

i'm glad we got to meet with her since ours will be the 1st commitment ceremony either of us have ever attended. though i have quite a few gay friends (and stephen has a nice array of lesbians in his coterie), either they're not in relationships, they're not at the Wedding stage or simply never bothered to have a ceremony. i have no idea what they're "supposed" to be like, how they're organized or structured. i was more than relieved when Julie whipped out a nice little outline for The Basic Commitment Ceremony and said that as long as there's a marked Begining and End, everything else is mutable according to our tastes/beliefs.

now, i'm not going to go into all the details (many of which we haven't worked out yet...we still have well over a year) but one of the things on her list that has had me thinking ALOT over the last 2 days are the readings that we'll have during the ceremony. according to Julie, there's no limit to the different kinds of readings we can have: song lyrics, poetry, prose, bible verses etc. Suffice to say, neither of us are Bible people. granted, i went to catholic school for, like, 20 years and between the two of us we've been to more Catholic/Christian/Protestant weddings than Cher's got wigs; but we want our ceremony to be different.

bearing that in mind, i've found two songs that i may want to have read somewhere in the ceremony. both make me all emotional when i read them (i almost started tearing up when i sent them to Stephen yesterday for his opinion), especially in the context of the ceremony...

Stronger :

If you think you stand alone
You've got a lot to learn
Because as long as there's one breath left in me
You'll always have someone to turn to
You're walking through that storm
There's a whirlwind in your mind
When you need a little shelter
You can run into these arms of mine

My love is stronger than your pain,
Stronger than your fear
Sweet enough to wash the salt from your tears
Deeper than the waves that break against your heart
You can't go on any longer
My love is stronger
Like a tiny fragile flower
Is gently nourished by the sun
Your love somehow empowers me
To do things I've have never done
To break through all these chains
All of my doubts and uncertainties
When your weakest hour falls around you
You can find your strength in me

My love is stronger than your pain,
Stronger than your fear
Sweet enough to wash the salt from your tears
Deeper than the waves that break against your heart
You can't go on any longer
My love is stronger

Miracles:

Clouds drift away
when they see you
Rain wouldn't dare
to fall near youhere
Miracles happen
when you're around
Somehow the grass is muchgreener
Rivers flow faster and cleaner
Being with you
no matterwhere
sunlight breaks through
and suddenly there's
A bluersky
whenever you're around
You always bring
a bluer sky
a brighterday
Thunder is silent before you
Roses bloom more to adore youtoo
Miracles happen
when you're around
The sunset is deeper andlonger
The scent of the jasmine is stronger
Stray dogs don'tbite
Birds start to sing
Lightening daren't strike
You suddenlybring
A bluer sky
whenever you're around
You always bring
abluer sky
a brighter day
Birds fly
even higher in the sky
Sun
shines
It's a new day