Vows

My mother ended by saying:

"Lastly, but certainly not least, are your words for each other, expressions of your love and your reasons for marrying."

And then I spoke to Wes:

"Wes, One of my favorite things in life, as you well know, is a good story, one that I can't put down and that goes on forever. Today is the best day of my life, because I have found a story that will never end, and one that I certainly can't put down. Some describe romance as a fairy tale, but I don't want a fairy tale, Wes; I want something real. You are not the prince charming I imagined; you are so much more. And ours is not a story of love at first sight. Ours is a story of love at fifth and thirty-fifth and ninety-fifth sight. Somebody once said that one of the nice things about marrying the right person is that you keep falling in love all over again at the most unexpected times. I don't really know when I fell in love with you, Wes, but I do know that since then I have fallen in love with you over and over again, and certainly at the most unexpected times. May it always be so. May ours be the never-ending story."

And Wes spoke to me, saying:

"Liz, you bring me so much joy.
You sprinkle each day with a pinch of magic,
bringing a smile to my face and a fullness to my heart.
May I do the same for you.

I vow to be your companion, your admirer, your truelove as long as I shall live.

Liz, I want to dream together;
all our dreams will not be met, this I understand;
but may our dreams beget more dreams and more dreams,
so that our love is never-ending.

I vow to think with you, to feel with you, to be with you as long as I shall live.

Liz, I feel the love that binds us together;
it is what I think about without having to think;
it is what I hope for without having to hope;
it is why I live.

I vow to hold you, to cherish you, to love you as long as I shall live."

My brother followed:

"Liz and Wes, today you have heard and shared with all of us your own words and those of others that describe your understanding of love and your desire for marraige. But as you know, love is much more than a word, and it is something that cannot be accomplished in word alone. I John 3:18 says, 'Let us not love in word or speech; but in deed and in truth.' As you take your vows, remember that this is your promise to each other, and that it is only fulfilled in the doing of it."

Then we spoke to each other again, saying:

"Intreat me not to leave thee,
Or to return from following after thee:
For wither though goest, I will go,
And where thou lodgest, I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people,
And thy God my God.
Where thou diest, will I die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If ought but death part thee and me."