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Right now, today, two young people are on a wedding journey
around the world that has captivated my imagination. I am not alone. Many
imaginations have been captivated by Cheetah Platt and Rhiann Woodyard’s enchanting
worldwide trek as they marry over and over again in different locations.
They left on Feb. 8 to get married in 11 countries, 38
times, over the course of 83 days. They have been posting photographs on
Facebook of their various weddings in places like the Colombian Rainforest, by
the great pyramids of Egypt, at the Boleykarrigeen Stones in Ireland, in the
Ajanta Caves in India, at a Maasai Mara Village in Kenya, and at the Giraffe
Center in Nairobi, to name a few. Cheetah and Rhiann were both ordained in the
Church of Spiritual Humanism before they left the U.S. so they could
“self-marry.” The couple met through their profession as aerial, pole, and
acrobat artists. They have been showcasing their acrobatic talent in the photographs
of themselves at their wedding locations. They have also been teaching
acrobatics to others along their wedding route. Their story has gone viral,
appearing in many online media outlets, and today they are doing an interview for
CNN.
Full disclosure: I
have known Cheetah since he was seven years old. He and his siblings grew up
with my children. Summer camp. School performances and events. Gymnastics
classes. Our families remain friendly. Like my children, the Platt children
enjoyed a childhood in the wilds of the Mendocino countryside with limited
access to TV and abundant access to the great outdoors. It’s a recipe for a
wide imagination and an abiding ability to delight in the gifts life brings.
There are many things to love about Cheetah and Rhiann’s wedding
adventure. The media focuses on the romance of it, linking to photos (taken
with a timer by the couple) of the weddings in picturesque places. Of course
it’s romantic, but the thing I love the most about these two young people and
their journey is their tremendous sense of wonder at the limitless magnificence
of creation. They visit sacred sites and take advantage of their wedding celebration
to discover people, landscapes, animals, and the natural world. One of my
favorite photographs they have posted is the two of them showing a group of
Maasai in Kenya how high they can jump. The Maasai told them that in their
culture they value the ability to jump high, and as acrobats Cheetah and Rhiann
obviously could not pass up the opportunity to demonstrate their jumping. For
me, the jumping is more meaningful than the weddings. Look at how excited they
are to jump! Their delight at kissing a giraffe, viewing waterfalls in
Colombia, shaking hands with an elephant, watching a lightning storm at night
from their hotel window, and teaching acrobatics to children in Mumbai goes
beyond the weddings.
Photo by Cheetah Platt taken at the Maasai Mara Village in Kenya.
We live in a time when wonder has been draining out of the
world. Our outlook for survival on Earth as a species does not appear to be so
great and the inhumanity of governments and powermongers around the globe is
made manifest in media images without respite. If I did not limit my exposure
to the news, I fear I would spend my entire day weeping for the many
traumatized, marginalized, murdered, and suffering souls; and for the poisoning
of the planet. By contrast, the incredible journey of Cheetah and Rhiann is
magic. It reminds me and others who are following their world-tour to stay
positive and to appreciate the beauty and the joy that continues to surround
us, and that will surround us even unto the very last breath of the very last
human on the planet. There remains much to celebrate in the world. The splendor
of a purple flower in the field lifts from me the mantle of grief and loss that
threatens to weigh me down to the bottom of the ocean. May I always remember to
look for that flower.
The wedding trek of this young couple reminds me that there
are still young people setting out in life with love in their heart, joy in
their smile, and happy curiosity. Cheetah and Rhiann’s rolling celebration of
love and discovery rekindles my hope that we, all of us, of all ages, in many
circumstances, can remain positive. May the delight and breathtaking beauty of
the world in which we live continue to amaze us and move us to tears. May we always,
always retain our sense of wonder.
Online stories about their
journey are popping up all over the place, including People Magazine online,
ABC News, and Yahoo Travel. Click here to read an article in the HuffingtonPost.
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