Meet Shonnie Lavender & Bruce Mulkey
Thanks for taking the time to get to
know a bit about us. Besides
learning about who we are, you may
also be interested in the
experience that led us to write this
workbook and
our intention for this
work.
Detailed information is located in our Media
Room.
Bruce Mulkey and Shonnie
Lavender met while
training for a marathon in Austin,
Texas, in 1995. After participating
in a running group together for almost
a year, the two decided that they
could transcend their three-decade age difference,
but not the triple-digit Texas temperatures.
Thus they moved with their blended
family of cats to the Southern Appalachian Mountains
in 1997 to a home near downtown Asheville, North
Carolina.
Shonnie and Bruce coauthored I Do! I Do!
The Marriage Vow Workbook based on their
experience of consciously crafting their
own marriage vows for their May 30, 1999,
wedding, commitments they continue to uphold.
The
experience that led us to write this
workbook
Over the years, friends and strangers alike
have remarked on how we are with one another-the
love we openly express, the respect that
we exhibit, our ability to promptly
resolve difficulties as they occur,
our willingness to ask for and offer
forgiveness. Probably the most important
thing we did to build our fulfilling
life together was to consciously create
our wedding vows, the commitments we made to
one another on our wedding day that we have
continued to abide by. In our vow-writing process,
we took the opportunity to go deep, individually
and together, to gain a greater sense
of who we were, why we were together, and where
we wanted to go. Out of this experience, we
wrote vows that brought us closer from the first
instant we recited them to one another.
In the years since our wedding day, we have
revisited our wedding vows on a regular
basis to remind ourselves of our intentions
and to return to integrity with our
commitments when we've strayed. We
know that we've benefited immensely
from this process, and we believe that
you will too.
Our Intention
One of our highest intentions is to help create
a world of greater compassion and connection,
and this workbook was formed out of this
calling. Now, by crafting your wedding
vows and living them with purpose, you
will be sending your love into the universe.
When you take the time to open your hearts,
write your truths, and share your authentic
selves with one another as well as those
around you, you'll not only be creating
a loving, lasting marriage; you truly will,
as Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see
in the world."
Shonnie Lavender & Bruce Mulkey |
