Donna's Vows To Jeff


Donna to Jeff:

"I really wasn't looking for this. In fact, I told you over and over again that I wasn't ready. That I had too many things to go through. That I wasn't headed this direction. That I was ready to be single... and you kept telling me, "You go do what you need to do - I don't want you to get hurt, but if you have to go out there and experience all that, I will still be here. I love you."

You never pushed for an immediate decision. I had to come to some conclusion - one way or another - about my life and what was really best for me...

... and I suddenly realized/felt with an acknowledgment of God's hand... "Here Jeff is exactly what I have been looking for all my life. I pushed him away over and over and over again. He stood there unmoving."

You didn't move! You just stood there and loved me anyway. I threatened, I got frustrated, I put things on the line, I tried to offend you, I told you everything I could to get you to go away... and you stood there. You wouldn't go away even when I begged you to go away!

Perhaps you saw beyond the pushing. Perhaps you saw beyond the begging. I guess I realized that I was being foolish. Why was I panicking? Here in my hand was everything I had packaged up in my hopes and dreams - not to mention good enough for my parents, and still wild enough for me, and a little tiny voice from way back inside of me cried softly, "You mean... finally? Finally? It's my turn??" and I have never heard that voice before... and I realized that that voice is the voice that also feels enormous peace about this decision... a peace I have never ever ever felt before about any other relationship I have been in.

You persisted and laughed and loved me and didn't give up and didn't quit and I finally saw that it was pretty stupid to say no. Especially when I suddenly realized I didn't even want to say no anymore.

So I said "Yes" instead.

I, Donna, in the presence of our family and friends, choose you, Jeff, to be my husband, spouse and partner from this time forward.

... to love you for the rest of your life.

... to share everything with you.

... to talk to you about our ideas, our dreams, the little every day things that make us laugh, and the not-so-little things that we can't help worrying about.

... to give you my love as a place you can always come to for acceptance, or the simple comfort that silence brings, when things left unspoken can still be understood.

... to grow old with you

... to watch our lives unfold, our dreams, one by one, come true

I will cherish and protect you:

... I will treat you with respect and deference

... I will build a life with you, blessed by faith in God

... I will celebrate your accomplishments and support and encourage you in your personal growth

... I will nourish you with my gentleness and uphold you with my strength

... I will weigh the effects of the words I speak and of the things I do

... I will never take you for granted, but always give thanks for your presence.

I offer you today, the one gift that no one else can offer:

I offer you my love."