Dear Family and Friends, It’s been 10 months since our last email to you all. The lilacs were blooming and we were hopeful, but cautious, ignorant of how the year would unfold. Despite all that has happened since then, we find ourselves in a strangely similar guessing game: when will it be safe for us all to be together again? When will everyone be vaccinated? As many of you know, Pete and I didn’t want to wait, so we got married on July 23rd, 2020. A small group of us gathered in the Adirondacks in upstate New York: Pete’s Dad and Aunt drove down from Vermont, and my Mum, Papa, Granma, Grandaddy, brother Phin, sister-in law Nicole, and niece Linden all came up from Maryland. My brother Ben and his girlfriend Alexis, along with our dog Talisker, piled into Pete’s big truck, loaded down with our 1970s slide-in camper, to make the drive across the country. We missed having Pete’s Mom, sister Jenna, brother-in law Robbie, niece Lyla and her new baby sister Kira there. We all decided flying was not a good idea, in part because of the state of the world, but also because these guys were preparing for a major family event of their own, with Kira due to arrive just weeks before the wedding. When the day came, we dressed in all our regalia, white dress, tie-clip and all (but no shoes for me!). Shrimp were peeled, 8 layers of cake were piled high, wild flowers and ferns were arranged, and camp chairs were set out on the dock overlooking the lake. The maypoles from Phin and Nicole’s wedding made the trip, and their ribbons streamed out in the breeze. And so with poignant words from Edward Abby, blessing us with crooked trails through miasmal and mysterious swamps, past belching tigers in a primeval forest, assuredly leading to a most amazing view, Nicole pronounced us Husband and Wife! We thought for sure we’d still have a big post wedding shindig just a year later in July 2021. Surely the world would right itself by then? But it is not certain, and the energy and commitment required to plan a raucous party needs certainty. And we are busy living this together-life of ours! So, instead of perpetually waiting, planning, and rearranging, we are calling off the giant hullabaloo, honky-tonk wedding reception. There. I said it. Boo. But, you know what? We had a most wonderful wedding day, and being married feels good, and right. After 10 years, we are a little surprised how different it feels to be officially in it together. If you want to feel part of the fun, you will find photos of our scaled down wedding on our website. A few folks have bravely ventured to send us gifts, and if that is your style, our household and adventures would certainly benefit from some new things. I have updated our wedding website and our registry is current. (https://www.theknot.com/us/lilly-deford-and-pete-mclane-jul-2021) Granma read us a poem from Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, that makes me think of all of you, far away: “Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits - islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.” We may have been interrupted, but I hope that we are on a rising tide and will hug and kiss, lean in to close talk, and carelessly clink our glasses with you again sometime soon. Much love, Lilly and Pete McLane