Votum Vovit

As I was writing this trying to come up with the greatest piece of love literature that ever existed, I realized that our story is just that. I remember when I was 18 I promised myself that I would NEVER let anyone else love me. I was standing in Diane's basement bathroom searching for peace amongst my tears and knew that I could never let this happen again, I could never let myself be whole again. I felt this gaping hole in my heart that I wouldn't even let Jesus fill and I felt loss for the first time. I felt it would be an injustice to my mom to cope and move on, so I didn't. Well not for awhile at least. God decided he was tired of waiting and met me in my loneliest places and started changing my heart. I never stopped believing in God, I just felt so hurt and abandoned that I kept him at a distance, but I knew one day I would have to give it up. It was around the time my sister got engaged and I really saw my sister healed and whole from all the time she had put in with herself and their relationship. I saw what it meant to love someone even with a broken heart. When I met you, I never knew you would be the one to show me that same thing. You brought me hope, joy and showed me selfless love when I felt unlovable. You showed me how to love again, and that 14 year old girl who never knew loss, she felt that freedom of choice and courage again.

So I have loved you 1539 days...

I vow to be patient even when your driving, I vow to trust you in all things, I vow to have integrity in our marriage and in parenthood, I vow to remember what is stable not what is empty, I vow to be a loyal best friend and to always laugh with you in every mistake, I vow to pursue you even when we are at odds, I vow to be forgiving when you or I make mistakes, I vow to respect you, encourage you and cherish you through sorrow and success, I vow to stick by you through sickness and health and never take you for granted, I vow to always put God first and you second, I vow to be your encourager in adventure and your forever responsible drinking buddy.  I vow to love you fiercely and honestly for all the days of my life. This I vow to you.