The Butter Rum Cartoon: TRAVELING COMPANIONS

With our rushing into it (knowing each other for only two months), Micki's family was of course trying to discourage her. She even had another boyfriend they all had accepted. On the same day that a letter came from her mother to try to encourage her to take more time to think, May 29, 1975, Micki wrote this to me:

"We are all each one of us truly alone in this wholeness of life. YET, we can find in each other a friend -- a traveling companion. Come be my traveling companion. I have the 'most' respect for you, and a great amount of concern over your welfare. You bring me much delight in your mannerisms on the whole. I'd love to share my time and space with you on this interesting, wonderful, ever-changing journey."

And so I wrote back:

I WILL BE YOUR TRAVELING COMPANION

The calling of a bird in the brush
Beckons me to follow
But the spears of the foliage
Keep me where I am.

The stars of the night
Are the beacons I crave to pass
Yet the earth
Is an anchor at my feet.

My mind expands beyond my sight,
My soul laughs at my still body;
Everything is there,
Nothing is reached

Am I dead or alive?
What does it matter?

For in the world that you share with me,
You comfort me,
You share with me,
You give to me your company
In the bondage of this world.

You seem to know of secret doors
To secret stairs
To secret floors,
Freedom smiles on your lips and
Freedom is your clothing.

I will be your traveling companion
Through worlds I do not know;
The rustling of the foliage spears
Seem to twitter like a lark,
The earthly pebbles 'round my feet
Glisten as the stars.

You make me see my furthest thoughts
And melt into my soul,
And when I have you in my arms
I have everything I need,
Everything I want.

Now let us embark on our chosen way
And share the experience we seek;
Eternity opened all its doors
At the rapture of our union.

That was our engagement. And ten days later, before going to Camano Island to be "officially" married before 25 family members and friends on June 8, 1975, Micki and I sat on a hillside on my land where we would live our first year of marriage in an 8-by-12-foot cabin with no utilities, and read to each other our own personal vows:

Lilith Michele, I give to you myself...
My hands -- that they may help you...
My arms -- that they may comfort you...
My thoughts -- that they may encourage you...
My voice -- that it may console you...
My courage -- that it may protect you...
My touch -- that it may give you pleasure...
My wisdom -- that it may accompany you...
And my mistakes -- that they may be corrected by you.
I only ask in return that you accept me,
And give me the opportunity
To love and honor you as my wife;
Share with me this life on earth...
Your joy, your sorrow,
Your dreams, your realities.
In doing so my life will have meaning.

And she said,
"I am glad we will be married now like this -- not having had time to get to know one another -- for I have no opinions of you yet (that is, what you are, what you have been, and what you will be to me). YOU are you. You is someone who when I'm near I feel at peace, when I'm away from you I am me, but yet I am in anticipation of the time when we will be together. I am fulfilled when I'm with you.
This thing I know, and so I have no worry of what the future will bring, and of what I do not know yet.
I only know that there is you in love with me, and I in love with you. The best will revolve around this.
Your loving wife,
Lilith Michele,
Micki"