Say Yes

Today. Say Yes. Try It!

Fourteen years ago this week, on the other side of the world, my life began by saying yes.

Meena and I had already said yes a month earlier, of course, officially, at the top of a mountain in New Hampshire, but here in Kathmandu - my first time in Asia - was different.

That’s where I said yes to being part of an amazing family.

Yes to immersing myself in the most challenging and achingly beautiful city on Earth.

Yes, to the priest when he asked me, at some point, in Sanskrit, if I'd take Meenakshi to be my wife.

And since that day fourteen years ago?

We've walked to the highest place on the planet. We've taken into our hearts Aaron and Janelle, and they have made us better. I've had the incredible privilege of first living the writing life and now the honor of holding the line at my library.

I have watched dozens of eagles fly above my head on their way to feed their young in Alaska, and I have sat by an old tree and watched a leopard slug inch its way over the bark.

I have watched the spark of wonder in a second grader's eye when she's looked down at a glacier footprint and began to understand her role in the universe.

I have screamed until my throat was raw as my nephew scooped up a line drive to throw out a batter at first, and I have screamed until my throat was raw with my daughter in the front row of a rock concert.

I have held my wife's hand at the Arctic Circle, and at the White House, and on a train in northern India, and as she brought our daughter into this world.

In Istanbul, I held Little Bean’s tiny hand as she took her first, tentative steps, and when she climbed her final fire tower, and when she strained to get a better look at Niagara Falls, and when she climbed over so, so many rocks.

I have looked into my baby's eyes and seen reflected there, those first, amazing, moments when Meenakshi appeared at the alter, and she lifted her veil and there I was, incredibly, a Polish boy from Buffalo about to say yes to this woman, in this far-away land that felt so like home. Yes. All this. All this and so much more in only 14 years because I said yes. How can so much happen in such a short amount of time.

And so today, help me celebrate by saying yes. To something. Today. It doesn’t have to be epic or life changing (though it might). New food. Take a walk. Play a game. Write a poem. Today. Say yes, with no restrictions. Throw yourself into your yes. Don’t look back. Make it special.

Ready? Tell us below what you said yes to. Go say yes!

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Housekeeping: If you’re new to joining us and you’re more curious about our time and wedding in Nepal, I wrote a whole book about it called The Nepal Chronicles. You can check that book out and all our books here: