bybenjamin

Finding you was the best surprise of my life. Because of you, I now believe in an open, truthful, unencumbered love that is earnest, peaceful and joyful a dream that was dead to me before I met you. I dare all my dreams now, because of what weve found. Youre my best friend, my ally, my accomplice. You are the love of my life.

I promise never to relinquish this love, never to abandon it, never to ignore it or neglect it. I will embrace you through bliss and through struggle and pain; to be yours as I am and as I will be, and to love you as you are and as you will be.

I promise always to take care of you and to stand up for you, to demand the best for you, from myself and from everyone else. And I promise to let you take care of me, even when Im stubborn.

I promise always to give you the benefit of the doubt.

I promise to love your family, and your wonderful friends, as I do my own clan.

I promise to support your music and all that you do creatively - because these are so much a part of you, theyre sunk deep in every pore of you, and surround you always, and they make you so beautiful to me.

I promise you always that I will sustain your individuality and independence, while also crafting and sharing one life together, one in which were never too far from one anothers waists and elbows, to grab hold whenever one of us needs it.

I promise always to curl up and laugh and giggle with you.

I promise that you will always know, you will always sense, you will never doubt, the constancy and faithfulness of my love for you.

I promise to be open to you, to be true always, never to hold lies or resentment within me, to give you my heart unselfishly and without reservation or condition.

Finally, I vow never to let you go, never to part from you, to be your wife and build a beautiful marriage with you, for the rest of our lives.

Amy, I love you. It all begins and ends with that. I knew I loved you the night of our first date. I knew I wanted to be a part of your life however you would have me. I couldnt imagine this... but looking back, I always wanted this.

There are so many things inherent in my love for you, things Ive shared with you over the past year. These are but a few: I will always cherish you, always respect you, always encourage you, always remain faithful to you. I will always be your sounding board, your pressure valve, your champion, and, when you let me, your protector.

I have never known anyone I could imagine as my partner in raising a family, as the mother of my children until I met you. I vow be your partner in all things, as I know you will be mine.

We were born to be together, and together we shall be forevermore.
We shall be together when the wings of death scatter our days.
And we shall be together even in our silent memory.
But there will be spaces in our togetherness,
and the winds of the heaven will dance between us.*1

And if there is a life after this one, something beyond this tangible Heaven, I will find you there as well. I love you and I will love you until the stars burn out. It begins and ends with those simple words which I have declared before you and those gathered here today. I love you. I am yours. I commit myself to you and to Us.