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Ricardo S. Jones and Nicole
L. Hood come now--stand together here to make your vows. You have known
each other for 2 years…from first glance of acquaintance to this moment of
commitment...at some moment you decided to marry. From that moment of yes
until this moment of YES, indeed, you have been making promises and
agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding
in a car or over a meal or on long walks; all those sentences that began
with "When we're married" and continued with I will and you will and we
will-- Those late-night talks that included "someday" and "somehow" and
"maybe" all the promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these
common things, and more, are the real process of wedding. The symbolic vows
you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, "You know all
those things we've promised and hoped and dreamed– well, I meant it all,
every word. Catch hands now and face one another to make your vows. Look at
one another.
Remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things
to one another — acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner,
and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last
two years. Now you shall say a few words to take you across a threshold of
life, and things will never be quite the same between you. For after these
vows you shall say to the world, "This is my husband." And you will say,
"This is my wife."
Ricardo please carefully repeat after me:
I, Ricardo take you, Nicole to be the wife of my days, the companion of my
house, the friend of my life and the mother of our children. We shall bear
together whatever trouble and sorrow life may lay upon us. We shall share
together whatever good and joyful things life may bring to us. With these
words and all the words of my heart, I marry you and bind my life to yours.
Nicole please carefully repeat after me:
I, Nicole take you, Ricardo to be the husband of my days, the companion of
my house, the friend of my life and the father of our children. We shall
bear together whatever trouble and sorrow life may lay upon us. We shall
share together all good and joyful things life may bring us. With these
words and all the words of my heart, I marry you and bind my life to yours.
The spirit of joy here is one blessing of many. Another blessing is this circle
of family & friends standing around you, their lives intertwined with yours.
More than
this, Ricardo and Nicole may God bless and keep you;
May the
sun of many days and years shine upon you;
May the love you have for one another grow and hold you close;
May the
good true light within you guide your way on together;
May your
dreams come true, and when they don't, may new dreams arise.
And long,
long years from now, may you look at one another and be able to say,
"Because
of you, I have lived the life I always wanted to live --
because of you I have become the person I longed to be."
God bless,
God bless, God bless!
Loosely adapted from "Beginning To End: The Rituals of our Lives" by Robert
Fulghum. Villard Books, NY 1995
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