May 17, 2003

 

It was exactly 8 years ago today that DW and I stood before God, family and friends and promised to “love, honor and cherish each other till death do us part.”

I remember choking back tears as I repeated my vows. For richer, for poorer…In sickness and in health… in good times and in bad… As much as I thought I did, I had no idea what those vows would come to mean to me and I’m pretty sure 8 years from now, they’ll mean even more.

The other day I came across our wedding program.

On the back page, we’d sat down together weeks before and written out “our story” to share with our guests.

Here’s what we wrote:

“Our Story…

Devin and I met through the bank. He called the branch office where I was working at the time, to get some information from us.

The first time I talked to Annie was when I called the branch and they transferred me to her. I had never met her or even talked to her before, so I had no clue about her. She was so easy and pleasant to talk to and she sounded pretty cute, too…

We talked for about 45 minutes and just clicked. We felt so comfortable talking to each other even though we were perfect strangers. He was so sweet and there was just something about him. We didn’t talk again for several months, then we met in person when he was visiting the branch one day. Eventually we started e-mailing at work and got to be really good friends. Months went by and I thought he would never ask me out…

She was so special and we had become such good friends that I didn’t want to risk that, but eventually I took the chance. We started dating, and one year, one month and one day later, we were engaged!

For some reason when Devin and I had first started dating we were talking about others couples and engagement rings and I had made the comment that, that kind of stuff really wouldn’t matter to me. If I loved the person I would say “yes” to a lime rock… well, on Christmas Eve, Devin proposed with what else but a lime rock ring he had made…it was priceless!

She thought she was getting a puppy for Christmas, so she was really surprised to see the lime rock! Annie is the type of girl I always thought I would fall in love with. I just never thought I would really find someone as perfect for me as she is. Every time I look at her and am around her, I am reminded of how lucky I really am. I cant wait to spend the rest of our lives together. I know she’s my gift from Heaven.

Devin is such a genuine person and that’s one of the things I love most about him. He cares so much about my happiness. He knows me like no one else, it’s the most amazing connection ever. He is such a good person and God has blessed me with a husband-to-be that I can be so proud of and I am. He is my true Prince Charming and has given me the fairy tale that I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl.

We are so happy that you could just us tonight. Thank you for being a part of our story by being here when our “Happily Ever After” begins.

Love,  Annie & Devin”

I can’t help but smile at how cheesy and blindly innocent we were. We didn’t have a clue. Our “Happily Ever After” certainly hasn’t gone exactly like we thought it would,  and while there are things I wish we’d never been through, there is NO ONE I’d rather have gone through it with then Devin.

He is STILL my Prince Charming and I can still say that the best decision I ever made was saying “yes” to that lime rock ring. :)

I’m so proud of the husband who chose me to be his wife, and with every year that passes, I find another reason to love him more.

~amw~