Vows

I composed this to use in a renewal of our wedding vows, in a year still to be determined.

When I learned that I couldn’t create
A love of my own
Out of the ash of human conceit…
When I’d convinced myself
Even God couldn’t love me,
I had to learn to show Him love by loving me
And learn how to give love unselfishly
Then He sent a miraculous gift…
He sent the gift of you…
My Pashmaloo e kachal…
To show the Truth of love only He could create.
His Word teaches from the very beginning
We were meant for each other always

Always and always to find myself in you
Soul to Soul… complete… made whole.

It’s the truth of our human experience
We must ever be seeking each other
Even from across the wide ocean
Pressed down and shaken together
God blessed me with you,
And blessed me again with the miracle of our son.
I thank God for every breath I’ve taken,
Every breath I will ever take as your wife.
I thank you for all the respect…
All the love you’ve always shown me,
Your one and only Khonom mushé…
And again dedicate myself for only you
I will honor you for all the time God gives me.

Always and always to find myself in you
Soul to Soul… complete… made whole.

This is an image taken, c. July 2011, of our little family at someone’s wedding in which we were a part

NOTES: “Pashmaloo e kachal” means approximately “my fuzzy bald dude” – my husband has the sexiest bald head and lush chesthair; “Khonom mushé” means roughly Mrs. Mouse – my husband called me that as a joke because I’m so NOT mousey in any way you could possible imagine… I am the antithesis of a “mousey female” – LOL.

We’ve been together for more than twenty-seven years and every year finds us more in love and more devoted to each other. We had been married twelve years and were forty years old before we were able to have our son, born around fourteen years ago now. Things have seldom been easy, but our love for each other sustains us. We know what agift we have in each other and we know what a miracle is our brilliant, funny son who is the light of our lives. At the end of the day, we embrace the work of always building our relationship. We understand that, just because you found your soulmate, does NOT mean the necessary work of relationships is finished – it’s ever ongoing and eminently rewarding. More to the point: We value the blessing that is the mystery and miracle that brought us together across unimaginable distance, dangers, and happenstance.

The following quotes helped inspire the direction of the poem/vows

Genesis 2: 14, 18, 22 & 24 “The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden… said ‘It is not good for the man to be alone…’ Then the Lord God made woman… and brought her to the man… For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the will become one flesh.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Mark 10:7-9 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become no flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

I Corinthians 13:4 & 7 - 8 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud… It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres… Love never fails.”