Four Years Ago Today

I married my best friend.

On that day, I was so nervous, so frazzled - not only had I just finished a challenging school year, but I had also bought my first house, and was coping with the fact that my dad had been gone almost a year at that point, and the resultant insecurities that brought.

Despite the beauty of the day, there are still certain things I would have changed, if I could.

One would have been the tuxes. Honestly, I didn't put much energy into selecting the tuxes, because I didn't have the energy to expend at that point, as I recall. Oh, they looked nice, to be sure, but I think I might have been able to choose something a little more flattering, or maybe something a little more my style. I don't know; 20/20 hindsight, I guess.

I got my hair cut the day before the wedding. NEVER get your hair cut the day before anything important. It's far too easy for something to go wrong, then you're stuck in pictures forever with some goofy 'do that would have had some time to grow in properly if you'd given it a week.

These things are really inconsequential. The one biggie that I would change, if I could, would be the vows.


We decided early on that we weren't going to use the traditional vows "love, honor, respect, obey" (does *anyone* use those anymore?) Like everything else relating to that day, I was emotionally wiped out by the prospect of writing vows. I knew I wanted to get married, and I knew I wanted to marry this girl, and I even knew what my heart wanted to say, but I just wasn't able to get it out on paper.

So I bluffed.

For those of you who attended our wedding four years ago today, I have a secret to reveal: the vows I spoke to Katrina I got off the internet. Canned. Whole.

Not that they weren't nice, and not that they didn't say a lot of things that I believed (and believe) in - things about dedicating myself to Christ for the sake of our marriage, yadda yadda yadda.

Thing is, I believe now I could've come up with much better stuff.

After being married to this amazing woman for four years, I now *know* I can.

So, if you'll indulge me, I want now, on our four year anniversary, to state to Katrina and to the world the vows I should have made that day, and make now:

Katrina.

You are my light and my world.

You fulfill me, and make me the person I was meant to be.

Your love, your energy, your drive, your commitment amaze me and humble me.

Your tenderness and devotion drive me.

I want to spend the rest of my life exploring the world with you.

I want to see every sunrise and every sunset until the day I die with you by my side.

I want to stand against the tide of apathy in the world with you in my arms.

I want to bring children into this world with you - obnoxiously bright, amazingly creative children whom we will give our every last ounce of devotion to.

I want us to make a difference in the lives of everyone we meet and touch.

I want to giggle, laugh and dance with you until the twelfth of never, and beyond.


For all these things, I marry you today.