Fletch’s Grandfather passed almost a year ago. His grandparents had been married for 64 years. His Grandmother passed away in February. We have lost three of our grandparents in the last year. It saddens us that they will not be able to come to our wedding or hold our future children. We know that they are with us in spirit and we are thankful for the time that we got to spend with each of them.
In planning our wedding, we are starting to think about the vows we will take, what we want to say to each other and the deeper meaning of what it means for us to be married. The traditional vow of “Till death do us part” has particular significance to us at this time. Sometimes I have nightmares of Fletch dying and I wake up in a cold sweat and have anxious thoughts and feelings about what my life would be like without him in it. One of my deepest desires is to live a long, full and prosperous life with those that I love most being by my side. Our grandparents were fortunate in this way. May we follow in their footsteps.
In thinking of the actual wedding ceremony and vows to be taken I think of promises to be made to one another. Promises of a life of love, trust, respect, caring, growing, nurturing, understanding and forgiving. Forgiving others, including your spouse, but also in forgiving yourself. Life is not about perfection, but striving to live the best life possible through your promises to those who mean the most to you.
If you have lost a loved one and either are married or are planning to be married, how did you or are you planning to honor them on your special day? We would love any suggestions or thoughts on this.
I hope that when my time comes, whether it’s tomorrow or 64 years from now, that I will look back on my relationship and marriage to Fletch and be as thankful, loving, forgiving and gracious as our grandparents were to each other.
Future Mrs. Fletcher
I think one of the greatest things you could Vow to the person you are getting married to, is to never give up on them! If neither of you gives up on the other than you can work through anything. Once you give up on someone it is very hard to start caring and even fall back in love (I speak from experience) I love my husband very much and one thing we could both tell you is that we will never again give up on the other person again. Most people cant or wont be able to recover from that disconnect. Also one thing you could do to honor the family is a collage. We had a huge one done up with pictures of my family and Joeys family with a picture of us together in the middle. It was in front of the church then moved to the enterance of the reception area and it now hangs on a wall in our house!
ReplyDelete