Jerry Chasen's Blog

We’re moving–both our home and our workspaces–and that’s the change I refer to here.

Shortly before writing this, the law firm I headed: a) was robbed; b) moved; c) dissolved; and d) was robbed again. I was also in a new relationship, way more suddenly than I’d planned after the 7 year relationship I had been in ended the previous July. Whew!

When Mark and I decided to have a commitment ceremony, it was immediately clear to me that I couldn’t recite anyone else’s words. So we explored what we wanted the ceremony to say, and then I wrote it. Written in rhyme (natch), the ceremony explores the nature of relationships, looking at traits common to none, some, all and specifically, ours. The entire ceremony was originally presented in a program book, and posted here are two posters made from the program book. The audio for this is done individually, so each section of the ceremony is recorded separately.

A good friend was celebrating his 60th this year, and shared that he had a year’s worth of celebrations in store. It got me thinking about “what if” we always celebrated a birthday for the year, and “what if” other things.

As it happens, the morning of the day on which the first Seder fell in 2009, was also the return to the skies at the time of creation. There’s tremendous power in “starting over”, especially when it’s conscious!