I WANTED to marry my wife again – those words echoed by Rev. Orlando Seale were the driving force behind the couple’s decision to renew their vows after 25 years of marriage.
For them, their marriage has been a testament to dreams shared, the joy of raising two sons, surviving tragedy and a never-ending faith in God.
“It was something actually we had talked about over the years, because we wanted our boys to be a part of it, to have a real wedding,” said Marcelle Seale. But it went quiet after Ricardo’s passing until January.
Naturally, after the drowning of the Seale’s 19-year-old son?Ricardo in 2009 at Accra/Rockley Beach the family needed time to heal, reflect and the strength to find the will to go on.
But go on they did, though it was difficult.
It was only after the prodding of a family friend who told them they had to celebrate their anniversay “in a big way” that the twosome decided to go ahead with the big affair that attracted 200 guests.
“For a long time we had always envisioned that the boys would be a big part of our wedding. Over the years we had renewed our vows a couple of times prior to this,” said Seale, who is the district superintendent of the Nazarene Church. “Because I’m a minister and encouraging others to renew their vows, we had renewed our vows as well.”
Because of his role in the church and his commitment to nurturing familes, Seale has always preached the benefits of marriage to members of his congregation.
In fact, during their ceremony, the couple included a marriage seminar so that couples in attendance could benefit from it.
“There are a lot of marriages that are either on the rocks or on the brink of falling apart,” said Marcelle.
“We wanted to encourage couples so we actually had a session where a minister addressed couples in the congregation for 15 minutes.”
Marcelle has seen from her personal ministry to couples the difficulties that many are facing in their married life.
“There are a lot of people out there who feel that they can’t do it or they couldn’t see their own marriages lasting this long,” she said. “We wanted to encourage them that they can make it. Yes, they will have challenges along the way.?We’ve had a big challenge with Ricardo but you can make it with God’s help.”
This sentiment was also echoed by the Reverend.
“What we have seen is that a lot of people have grown skeptical of marriage,” he said. “So we really wanted to encourage younger people in their mid-twenties not be jaded by some marriages. The bad stories are always told, but there are lots of marriages working as well. But you have to be committed, communicating, then marriages can work as well.”
The Seales know personally the difficulty that can arise in marriage as various challenges present themselves. The death of a son is a particularly traumatic event that can often mean the demise of a marriage. But the Seales held on to each other and God through this most difficult time. In some ways it has forged an even deeper bond between them.
“We talk about everything,” said Marcelle. “We are best friends. It’s not every person that I would tell things to, but I would tell him.
“I thank God for our faith and that faith has held like the rock of Gibraltar,” Seale said. “The fact that our son was passionate about his faith as a 19-year-old and had a tremendous sense of hope, that gave us confidence. And the church community rallied around and were responsive to us.
“When I found out about Rick I was in Trinidad and my first response was, are my pastors there for my wife, how is she handling it. But the pastors and the wives even converged at the hospital, people left their jobs and were there. I think my son’s faith, the response of the church and my family members and the resilience of my wife really helped me through it.”
With their oldest son Reynaldo now studying theology in Trinidad, the Seales are now empty nesters. But as they renewed their vows last Saturday, their son Reynaldo was there and according to his mum, they had Ricardo’s photo at the head table.
“There was a dove at the reception that stayed the entire time, it kept going around the different tables and somebody said, ‘I think Ricardo is here’. But we definitely felt his presence.”
