Holly’s Dutch friend couldn’t remember the word anniversary, so she called our recent trip our “Honeymoon Birthday”, and we liked it. Last week we celebrated 5 years of being married! We spent one week on the exotic island of Unguja (AKA Zanzibar-Zanzibar is actually an Archipelago made up of several islands)
We spent a couple days in beach bungalows on the East coast. The beautiful white sand beaches slowed our walking speed and the relaxing atmosphere coaxed us into long conversations. The only thing separating us from the water were a couple of trees holding a hammock.
We stayed a little further down the beach for three days (one of which was our anniversary). Our agenda included: reading books, praying, yoga, runs on the beach, eating, and enjoying each other. However, on one of the days we went for a snorkeling and octopus hunting trip. On Unguja, the tide moves over 1 KM twice per day. When the tide is out, a shallow-water boat takes you off-shore to reefs normally under several meters of water. We caught two octopus (octopi???) and within the hour, brought them back for our chef to prepare. Delicious!
We also spent two nights in Stone Town. The mystique of both the Swahili Empire and the Omani Sultanate were captured as we walked through the incredible outdoor markets and ornately carved doors on narrow streets. We watched the sunset on a roof-top restaurant, slowly digesting 6 courses and listening to the call to prayer (Stone Town reminded Holly of Baku, Azerbaijan)
It was a time of affirming our marriage, gratefulness to God, talking over the highlights of the last 5 years, and vision for the next…
8 comments:
Get that thing off your head Ben!!
Hey Zach, Getting the octopus off my head was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. Those tentacles can really suck. I had to move my hand around my bald head very quickly so the arms were all in the air at the same time, and I could finally pull it off. Hope you and Casey are well. Greet those of CCC.
After all the stories of divorce and domestic violence, it is refreshing to read about a couple that enjoys each other and celebrates marriage.
Happy Anniversary from a stranger.
i love you two so much...i am SO glad that you had time to be...you have always been friends AND a couple that inspire me. most of the time i feel you reminding me what love, life, hope and marriage are all about. thank you for your love. thank you for your honestly. thank you for sharing your life with us. may jesus bless the next five years drawing you near to one another, him and selfishly may he bring another porter/kurtz vacation (or more than a vacation, like a reason to live on the smae street would be amazing!)? :) love you love you love you!!!
kel
hey guys, happy belated anniversary! 5 years. congrats. And yes, I remember the slip n slide... in fact, my kids love it.
Holly, I went up to visit Heather Rumford last week and she asked about you. She was excited to hear about the stuff you guys are doing there. Take care,
hey you two, happy happy anniversary and congratulations on your beautiful, shining, inspiring love. what a masterpiece! love and big hugs, lia and david
"what is marriage? it's the reunion of the separated duad. originally you were one. you are now two in the world, but the recognition of the spiritual identity is what marriage is...(in marriage) we reconstruct the image of the incarnate God." -joseph campbell
Holly you are so beautiful and I love reading your journey of life. The Lord has blessed you and it makes my heart warm. I would love to meet you some day Ben.
Happy Anniversary to your both!
Sara Lazio
For some reason my comments haven't been opening on our crazy internet here, so I'm just reading all these, what a joy to get things from friends I haven't heard from in awhile--and from a stranger. Lia and David-beautiful quote. Courtney-wondering how your little one is doing. If you see Heather again please give her a big hug. How fun.
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