Vows

My wife and I had a date on Saturday. We went to a place in NYC’s Chinatown I had seen an influencer hype up.

It was worth the hype. The food was awesome, the spiciness was perfect for my wife, the prices were great and the air conditioning was on full blast, set at 61. We had ice cream afterwards and wandered around.

I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see her. I know, without a doubt, she is the most beautiful woman in the world. She is my forever girl.

We said “Yes” to our relationship publicly several times. We registered as domestic partners just before our church wedding, May 17, 1998, the 2nd anniversary of our first date. We legally married June 1, 2010. We renewed our vows on the beach in Honolulu in 2021.

The holy vows we make at our weddings cover every eventuality in life: for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death parts us.

That is all of life, they cover it all.

Those vows are part of what have kept us through life on life’s terms. There have been times we have struggled through disagreements and weeks of ease and bliss. There were times we were really broke and now we are becoming more financially comfortable. We were young women when we married, vibrant, healthy and now we are both post menopausal and living with the realities of aging bodies. We also loved each other through the deaths of her mom, her brother, my parents and of our only child.

We could have never known what would come and we still don’t know what lies ahead. But, the vows, the vows give direction and strength when we have neither.

So, we date still. Sometimes we get dressed up for each other. Many days we watch something on tv, sitting side by side, our cat lying between us. We cook for each other, we encourage each other’s dreams. Each day we begin with a kiss and end each day ends with one too.

She is my forever girl and we choose to love each other, every day.