Those Vows

I surprised Matt by asking Shantelle, a bridesmaid of mine, to renew our vows exactly one year from the day we got married in the exact same spot.

I appreciate what she came up with:

Love is about building your life together. The little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years.
It is having mutual sense of values and common objectives. It is being each other’s best friend. It is having fun together. It is sharing and shouldering sorrows and struggles. It is standing together and facing the world, because together you are better and stronger than anything you could be apart. It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the while family. It is doing things for each other, not in the attitude of duty or sacrifice, but in the spirit of joy.
Amanda asked me to give you my thoughts on love. I guess I could say I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on love, but until now I never really took the time to really sit down and think about it. In my mind, there are two different types of love. “Love” and “true love”. Love means loving those around you that you care about; your parents, siblings, family, and close friends. “True love” is the love within a relationship and/or marriage between two individuals that are equally committed to each other.

Throughout my life, I have heard some people say that “love doesn’t last forever” or “love fades” or “love isn’t perfect” or “love doesn’t exist”. If it is indeed “true love”, it will last a lifetime. “True love” cannot and will not fade. If love fades within time, it wasn’t meant to be or it wasn’t true love to begin with. As we all know, relationships and marriages aren’t always perfect. That is because humans are not perfect. True love should never be questioned, because true love is what holds your bonding relationship together. Love is the foundation of your marriage.

Matt and Amanda, I truly believe that the love you share is true love and will always be true no matter what may come in your path, now or in the future. Life will always be full of winding path, but once you get through it together, you will know what kind of love exists in your relationship.