Vows, rings and the sun setting over the Pacific

Blazing Reader,

Novelists love trilogies, and today I finish the trilogy I started on Monday — sharing photos from my (new) family's trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, including the commitment ceremony my (new) wife, Ina, and I had on the beach.

But before we get to the ceremony, I need to introduce you to the crocodile who sunbathes dangerously close to where we tied the knot...

The resort didn't seem to have much issue with a man-eating lizard (which can leap four meters in less than one second) lounging on the same beach as their guests. Interesting that the warning sign was only posted in Spanish...

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday, January 21. We were kidnapped by pirates the next day (as I shared here). On Wednesday, we recovered from the trauma by staying at the resort, swimming and playing ball in the sun.

On Thursday, we hired a taxi driver to take us to various locations along the coast, looking for an ideal spot to exchange vows and rings and commit ourselves to each other until death (or a crocodile) do us part.

We had a pre-planned spot in the jungle farther down the coast, near a waterfall, but the terrain proved too challenging for the kids (plus our wedding clothes).

So we had the taxi driver take us to a few locations along the beach, which you can see here...

In the end, however, we ended up holding our commitment ceremony not far from our resort...

That's my son, Jonah, in the background. He was the ring bearer. Ina's son Kevin was the cameraman. He pretends to be a bit deranged...

And so were some of his camera angles. The following photos were all taken from the camcorder footage.

After exchanging vows (which we wrote ourselves) we exchanged golden wedding rings...

And the "you may kiss the bride" moment...

As the sun set, Venus was quite visible in the sky above...

The ceremony lasted about 15 minutes and was only attended by our kids (who probably couldn't have handled anything longer). We plan on having a more social renewal ceremony later in the summer with friends and family. Nonetheless, as Ina said to me, it already felt like we were married from the very day we met — this was just an outward (albeit important and pleasant) formality.

The next day, we celebrated by going ziplining in the jungle (and, sadly, getting food poisoning). The next week we headed up into the mountains for The People's Reset conference in Morelia (photos and more coming soon). Then we flew to the Netherlands, where Jonah and I got a feel for our new home and family...

I don't know if writing novels makes me a little more daring and adventurous or if being daring and adventurous makes me write novels. Either way, Ina and I are looking forward to sharing the daring adventure of life together.

—John C.A. Manley

P.S. For the story of how I met Ina, you can read "I have a slightly insane idea," I told my psychotherapist.

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.