The ceremony ... my vows

I spent so much time working on the ceremony itself. We could anything we wanted and there are so many ideas available on the internet these days. How exciting that it was finally beginning!

The sun shone just a little. The grandsons played the opening song - Over the Rainbow, the special version by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (yes, I had to look up how to spell it).  The perfect opening.

The minister welcomed everyone and mentioned my Dad who died last year and the beloved dog we had buried last winter. We knew there we with us that day.

He talked about our parents and thanked them for helping us get where we are today, and spoke of our common spirituality. Then it was time for the vows.

I had been worrying for weeks about the vows. First, we had planned to write them together and make them match. But then my fiance said, "Why don't we just get up and talk to each other?" Well,, he is a professional performer, so I figured that sounded easy to him. It freaked me out.

But I sat down one night and wrote some paragraphs from the heart - just telling him how I felt and making some promises to him. And then I started memorizing! Just like when I have lines in a play (I am a community theatre actress), I worked on this. By the week of the wedding, I had it down! But I was still nervous.

At least I got to go first, and it came out just the way I wrote it. Not every word, but the meaning of each part. I even got a few laughs talking about how he deleted me after the first time we went out and I had to wait over a year before I saw him again. And reminding everyone that I proposed to him, because I had sworn I was never getting married again, so he was surely not going to ask me.

I made these vows:

• I promise to give you the best of myself, and ask of you no more than you can give.
• I promise to be there when you need me, and even when you don't think you do.
• I promise to take care of you, so you had better get used to it.
• I promise to share our hopes and dreams, and work together to make them come true.
• I promise to sing with you in harmony forever.
• I promise to love you, and cherish you for the rest of my life.
• I promise to be your partner in future adventures.
• I am yours, you are mine. Forever.

Deep breath. And it was his turn.