My darling Candace, my companion, my lover, my friend, my dearest rival, daffodil...
I have no idea how or why this wondrous love story was first set in motion or where it leads. I did not know in the last 33 years how, where or if you would come into my life or, if you did, if I would even recognize you. All I know is that I prayed for the courage to embrace you wholly when I found you and for faith in the fullness of time until the moment that I did.
Since then, exploring this vast world we have found has been the easiest and most difficult journey I have ever known. We dwell in this paradox every day as we explore this vast expanse, this terra nova.
To you, today, in front of our friends and families, I make the following vows:
I vow to cherish and cultivate the differences that enrich us immeasurably both individually and together, even as those qualities shift with the tide of time.
I vow to give the best, unequivocal support I am able to in helping you find and pursue that which has meaning for you in any and all forms that you find it.
I vow to receive the innumerable gifts which you and the world bestow on me each and every day. At times in my life I have felt like the proverbial man trying to catch the rains from heaven in a thimble, but since I have known you I have felt my basin grow considerably and eagerly await its future enlargement.
I vow to never fully understand you and to forego any attempt to. I love the unassailable mystery that you are to me, even as I come to know you more each day.
I vow to live humbly with you and for both of us with these ideals. I vow to be consistent in their application and loving, patient and forgiving in their lapses, as I know they are built upon a bedrock of blissful gratitude, deep affection, service and a love native only to this world.
