Dear Friends,

 

Two spaces left for the very affordable  "Weekend at Carol Lynn’s" retreat for gay men!  One for October 17-18 and one for November 14-15.  Anyone interested see http://clpearson.com/weekendgaymen.htm.  I have a feeling we’re going to have a warm and wonderful time.

 

LOVE LIKE THE REDWOODS
 

Last Saturday I participated in a wedding in one of the most beautiful places imaginable--a Redwood Grove in Berkeley, California.  I read love poems I had written years ago, and I urged David and Heather to remember that they must build on both kinds of love--the romantic (eros), and the Christlike (agape):

 

                        DOUBLE WEDDING

 

            Let’s have a double wedding,

            You and me and eros and agape.

 

            Let us post interchangeable notes

            On bedroom wall and refrigerator:

            "Love thy lover,"

            And "Love thy neighbor."

 

            Let us hold hands in movies

            And in the hospital.

 

            Let us kiss shoulders and eyelids

            And the cut fingers of small children.

 

            Let us serve one another

            Apple blossoms in vases

            And quartered fruit on trays.

 

            Let us write poems and wills

            To each other.

           

            Let us have nights as friendly lovers

            And days as loving friends.

 

            And let us four of us

            You and me and eros and agape

            Stand in line together,

            At the grocery store

            And at a golden anniversary.

 

Some weeks ago I read to another couple in celebration of their 54^th anniversary, my dear home teachers, David and Diana McClun.  I went over to their home and read the entire half-hour text of my new book, The Lord Is My Shepherd: Inspiration for Couples.  I had been moved and inspired as I read to the new bride and groom, so young and in love and hopeful.  But I found myself even more deeply moved as I read aloud words of love in the presence of two who have lived love so successfully--enjoying one another, supporting each other’s desires, blessing each other’s lives decade after decade. What a triumph that is!  Half of marriages fail today.  Many just endure to the end.  Those that not only survive, but thrive deserve--well, they deserve just what they’ve created--joy.  From the section, "He Restoreth My Soul"--

 

            Your soul, my love, is the breath of God

            And I am its guardian.

            I see it soar

            I see it sink.

 

            And when the blows of this world

            Take your godly breath away

            When I read doubt or defeat in your eyes

            When I see your soul suffer--

 

            I will help restore it

            With an encouraging word...

            Or with a listening that says nothing      

            And says everything.

 

            And surely with that sweet prerogative of lovers--

            An embrace of hands and lips and heart.

 

As I see many of my gay friends establishing relationships--or yearning to--my hope is that they will demand of themselves--and for themselves--real love.  Under the redwood trees the other day, I gave the bride and groom my favorite saying about love: "In real love, you want the other person’s good.  In romantic love you want the other person." (Margaret Anderson)  In the eighties, when my former husband Gerald went searching for love in the gay world, the cards were nearly impossibly stacked against him.  But things have changed.  As I said the other day at the national Affirmation conference--Today is the first time in history that you as gay people can have relationships in the sunlight and not in the shadow.  Demand of yourselves--and for yourselves--real love.  It takes decades for a redwood tree to reach its height.  Let's give love the care it deserves.

 
AUTOGRAPHED BOOKS. Free copy of the stage play, Facing East with any order on CLP website through October 10. Also----would love to sign for you the brand new The Lord is My Shepherd: Inspiration for Couples! Give yourself or your loved one a signed copy of Embracing Coincidence; In Love Again and Always; Beginnings and Beyond, or any of the other many Carol Lynn Pearson books available at http://www.clpearson.com/personal_gifts.htm

TELEPHONE CONSULTATIONS. Could you benefit from a telephone consultation/conversation with Carol Lynn about any of the issues with which she has experience? http://clpearson.com/consultations.htm.  "Okay. I get it now. And I don't think I would have gotten it if it hadn't been for you. A million thanks!" S.

 

Did I tell you why Santa Claus went to the therapist?  He had stopped believing in himself.