Marriage of the Minds

In 2004, my nephew, James, eloped with his long-time girlfriend, Jill. Upon hearing their news, I asked Jill to peruse the Drawn Thread website to see if she could choose a design they both liked, that I could stitch as a wedding sampler. She chose Marriage of the Minds. How apropos! James and Jill attended St. John’s College, Annapolis, MD, where their undergraduate work was wholly devoted to the study of the classics. So fitting because the sampler’s motto is derived from Shakespeare’s Sonnet CXVI, which speaks of the commitments of love and marriage:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
It this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)

Originally designed to commemorate a 20th wedding anniversary, the design includes some traditional symbolism in the motifs used. Some of my favorites are:

Cranes - longevity and good fortune
Owls - wisdom and loyalty
Deer - longevity, peace, and compassion
Birds - honor, honesty, conjugal fidelity and good fortune
Hearts - love, soul and spirit
House - stability, the seat of the soul, the place one returns for comfort, protection & rest
Trees - strength, durability and steadfastness in adversity
Clouds - good fortune, happiness and peace
Butterflies – joy and longevity
Dragonflies – marital success, victory
Bees – hard work and industriousness
Rabbits – fertility and family

James’ mother, Susan, will be delivering the framed sampler to them soon and I can’t wait to hear how they reacted! I wish them many tempestuous years together!