A Marriage Vow

I have a close friend who got married recently and she asked for a very weird wedding gift, that is, she asked me to write her vow. I've actually known her before she met the love of her life, so she said it'd be a piece of cake for me to write it. But, vows are supposed to be very personal. Not even the best writer in the world could match the words that actually come straight from the heart. I told her that. But, there was no changing her mind. She told me that it was the only gift she wanted (read: demanded) and she's not going to take no for an answer. Therefore, I had no choice.

I asked her how she felt for her "baby" so that I could just get the feel and attempt to write as if I was actually the one feeling it. Being thousands of miles away didn't exactly help. Or did it? After some meaningful exchanges, I came up with something and she liked it (in her exact words and spelling, she looooved it soooo much!). Despite being a little lengthy, she promised she'd use it. I could just hope the words gave justice and captured how she actually felt. I told her she could change it or maybe shorten it. Well, she did use/read the whole thing. And, I'm actually quite happy that she did.

I asked her if I could share it in my blog and she told me it was okay as long as I don't mention their names. Hehe:) So, if you attended a wedding and heard these words or something very similar to this, you probably were in my friend's wedding.


The Vow

I loved life. I thought I already had everything. I had success in my career, loving and supportive family and friends; I actually had a life which most people would kill to have. I was the example, the model given by parents to their children whom they want to go far and wide. Heck, I had a perfect life if there actually was one.

Then, one day, all of that changed. I realized that there is so much more to life than success, money and fame. I realized that intelligence and being smart aren't everything. I realized that life is not about being that kind of person whom everybody envies or wants to be like.

The day that changed my life, the day that changed my whole being, was the very day I met you. You made me realize that all the success and know-how in the world cannot compare to the feeling of completely losing yourself in the embrace of just one person's love. I never believed in the power people assigned to love, I was actually arrogant enough to say that I was like Achilles when it comes to this thing called love. I was completely invincible. All those times, I forgot that Achilles had one and only one spot of weakness. You came and I instantly felt that you were it! You were my weakness. You were my downfall. And, yes, I did fall and I fell hard.

But, far different from expectations on falling, it didn't feel bad. If anything, it actually felt really good. It felt like my fall caused me to have hallucinations of brighter and bluer skies, of a world far more fragrant and colorful than I would ever have admitted, of sweeter music, of better tasting food, of beautiful, beautiful things around me. I was in a dream of beauty and wonder. It was so amazingly real and it felt so great I wanted to just shout and sing to the world. The feeling was so new and so powerful that I thought I'd gone crazy. And, yes, some people would say I did. I was completely lost amidst this wonderful dreamy wakefulness. But, I liked being lost. I enjoyed the dream tremendously. For the first time, I could see clearly and feel absolutely at peace with everything and everyone around me.

And, I realized that YOU were all these things. You changed me and caused a complete 360-degree-turn in my life. You are my dream, you are my world, you are my life! To spend the rest of my life with you is to live in that wonderful dream-world, where everything is made nice and beautiful by your mere smile.

Now, I've realized that this dream-world is not a dream at all. The life that I had before this, before you, was actually a dream. Everything about that life, the unhappy, selfish person that I was, is dead and I leave everything behind. All those times, I felt life was exactly the way I wanted it to be, but, in truth, I didn't have a life at all. I wasn't living. Nothing in that life was real. Thanks to you, reality dawned. You are my reality. You showed me what life really is about and its true meaning.

The day that made me whole was the day I met you. The day that I start to live is the day I marry you. Today is that day. Everything ends and starts today. Everything starts and ends with you. Thank you for the gift of life. I love you and I always will.

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Yeah, it's weird what some of my friends make me do, but what can I do? They're my friends and they're weird like me. Haha!:)


Again, congratulations! You know who you are. :)