Blue Skies

Blue skies, smiling at me;

Nothing but blue skies do I see.

Blue birds, singing a song;

Nothing but blue birds all day long.

Never saw the sun shining so bright;

Never saw things looking so right.

Noticing the days, hurrying by;

When you’re in love, my how they fly.

Blue Days, all of them gone;

Nothing but Blue Skies from now on.

When I first heard this Frank Sinatra tune I wanted to remember it as a kind of toast. It is such a beautiful thing to wish for someone – blue skies and sunny days. Of course, life doesn’t work that way and true character is built on how we negotiate the squalls and dark clouds of adversity.   

My son Ben will be married later this year. Ben and Allison met in Miami as students at the “U.”  The Coral Gables campus is an especially beautiful place when the sky is blue and the sun is shining. In South Florida, if you spend enough time there, you really grow to love the feeling of being in paradise all the while knowing it cannot last. The Miami football team will win 57 home games in a row. The team will be declared a college football dynasty. Eventually, of course, they will be defeated. The Orange Bowl will be torn down. A spectacular baseball stadium will take its place. Tropical Storms will cause massive flooding, Category five Hurricanes will reach landfall and the Everglades will catch fire. But in spite of it all you will never forget the beauty and color of a casual walk through the Fairchild Tropical Gardens and remember just how fantastic things can be.  

Ben and Allison we love you. We wish you all the best that life has to offer. Still we are also painfully aware of the ebb and flow of things. You will be tested. You will see storms. You will have setbacks. But you will face them together and that will make a world of difference. I think you both understand this concept because I see how you both cherish every moment together. You took the time to preserve in a painting the profoundly mature thought: “Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” If you know that to be true, nothing can stop you from having a remarkable life together.  

While we cannot promise anything, we can still wish this for you both:

Blue Days, all of them gone;

Nothing but Blue Skies from now on.