Where to begin...

Do we begin with why St. John? Why now? Or with the ultimate amazing culmination of all of you?

Think we start with the magical island of St. John...

When and why we decided to be married is separate from where, and yet also so interwoven. Late last year, we were gifted the opportunity of going someplace of our choosing and decided we really, really wanted to take the kids away somewhere. With schedules being what they are, we knew the only time to do it was over the winter holidays. St. John has special meaning in my (Megan) early life. I wanted to share it with Jay, and we came down in January 2020 just as the pandemic was starting. Jay loved it just as much (maybe more!!), and we visited again in early 2023 with our Ohio peeps.

The specialness of St. John began when my dad and stepmom took me and my brothers (Joe, Dave, Ol, and Chris) initially to St. Croix in 1987 to celebrate their marriage and to 'bond' with each other. Well, we kept telling them after that first trip that we needed to continue to bond, and we started coming back to the islands each winter holiday. We found St. John in the early 1990s after coming here to be scuba certified, fell in love with it, and never went anywhere else. We were so fortunate to continue visiting, eventually with the kids, and we had one last beautiful trip with my dad, Joe, in 2006 when Lily was 4. The house on Oppenheimer Beach, where we are staying for this trip, looks up at the house that we would stay at with my family. We would, in turn, look back down to Oppenheimer and say, 'One day, one of us will stay there'. Having the opportunity to stay on Oppenheimer means so much; it is actually surreal and yet also feels as if it has been years in the making.

We started talking about being married long before we actually said - ok - let's get married! We always knew we were committed to each other. We talked about the reasons why people get married and don't get married. We talked about, do we feel a need to be married? Haven't we already done that? Will it change things? Will it matter? Were we ensuring the kids would be not just ok with it but, more importantly, be happy, content, and/or excited? Were we ensuring that each of us just felt...that it just felt RIGHT. And then, as you know, in the spring of 2023, we found out I had cancer. The journey that took us on then and continues to take us on now, didn't necessarily teach us how precious life is, as we have all, unfortunately, had tragedies in our lives and have learned that lesson. What it taught us was not just to be grateful to be given another day but to actively celebrate the gift of any and each day we are given. We had been holding back celebrating each other and the 'us' with one another, as if we would always have 'another day.'

When we realized we had actually managed to have ALL of our kids together in one of the most meaningful places to us, we looked at each other and knew. Now. Now, it was RIGHT. And then, it became even more right with all of you.

We have told each of you that when we decided this, we would never in any number of years ever think anyone would go to such lengths and effort to join and surround us with the love that you all have. We have been touched and humbled and are so indescribably grateful to each of you for each day you are giving to be with us, for each moment you have already given to us and for ALL of the days ahead we will have with you. As for the kids, Jay and myself - Our Story IS Just Beginning and sharing it with all of you means so much to us. XXOO, Jay, Megan, Samantha, Lily, SJ and Calvin.