"Eedie, for the entirety of our lives, you have shown me unconditional love and unwavering support. You have been my pillar of strength, my reason for living, the voice that inspires me to be better. Eden, I have loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you, each day believing it impossible to love you more than I already do, and the next proving myself wrong, time and time again. You have the whole of my heart, but it grows, eternally, to hold my endless affection for you. You are my better half, my best friend, my partner. You are the love of my life, afterlife, and whatever lies beyond that. And today, I'm moved to finally, finally call you my wife. I marry you without hesitation or doubt. Because my commitment to you is absolute. I promise not just to love you, but to trust you, respect you, encourage you, and cherish you. Every day, for all the days of our life. I am yours. This, my heartfelt vow to you."

"During my time as an apprentice years ago, I worked alongside a pretty intelligent woman. She said to me once, so passionately, 'If you make a mistake, don't fret. Turn it into something! There's beauty in everything.' Mismatched corners, router burns, deep splints. To her, these were not mistakes. They were opportunities to reimagine instead. In hindsight now, what absolute sense that makes, because it's true, isn't it? Has it not always been? I made a mistake a long time ago, and ten years later, I decided to turn it into something else. An opportunity to reimagine, to reinterpret the mess-up, to cast it into something better, something richer, something deeper. Our flaws, don't they give us character? They give us spirit, and meaning, and existence. They give us beauty. Sutter, oh, Sutter. My sweet boy, my sweet man. I know you have known this, that there is beauty in what happened all those years ago, because it has given us this beauty now. Thank you, for never, ever giving up on me. For never, ever giving up on us. On us, here. Us, here, for every and all eternity. We await so much, and we will do so many great things. If we stumble onto a mistake, we'll just turn it into something, I know we will. Something better, something richer, something deeper. A great seventy years from now and won't we look back and feel so, so proud? I have perfect faith in us, and so perfect is my love for you. For you and your big heart. Your goodness, oh my gosh, so much good. Your warmth and your light. Your green eyes and golden curls. My favorite. I want nobody but you. You, as my friend, my lover, my mistake-fixer. And to nobody but you, only you, shall I be faithful. What else can I say? I love you. I love you more than I could ever properly relay, and oh god, how much that aches, because I am certain no number of words or expanse of time would be enough to do so. Give me a hundred lifetimes. Give me thousands of dictionaries. None of that would ever suffice. So, please, sweet man. Please, just know this, my vow to you. You have never given up on me, and so I will never give up on you. Never again will I give up on us. I will do anything and everything, for you. I will do anything and everything, by you, always. I'm yours. I'm yours forever."

i carry it in
my heart