Nicole & Kent

Nicole-

Everyone says this, but I feel like I’m the luckiest man in the world standing here with you. When I first met you, you were the most beautiful, most perfect person for me…I just didn’t know it yet. For over a year - sixteen months, in fact - we lived as landlord and tenant, until you moved out and I was finally alone in my house. That, I figured, was that - the end of the chapter.

Two months later, though, on that fateful Superbowl Sunday, a random text about a guitar and an agreement to meet at my friend’s place, and the fuse was finally lit. I was so breathless and speechless in that brief minute or two, standing with you outside my friend’s house. There you were! I missed you! We should see each other again! That, it turned out, was more than just ‘that’ - the chapter wasn’t over; in fact, it had just begun!

As cliché as it is, you were the missing puzzle piece in my life. You filled a void I knew I had but didn’t know how to fill. I thought I knew how life worked, but in these six (actually eight) years, I have learned so much more: about you, about me, about us. You have a perspective and practicality to life that I could only hope to emulate. When life threw me curveballs, you helped me adjust my swing. You’ve shown me that I can be proactive and plan for things, rather than just being reactive and having to deal with things. You’ve shown me that it’s okay to dream, and even okay to dream big. You make me want to improve myself - even in tiny bits - every day, to be a better person.

Nicole: as we stand here today to make ‘us’ permanent, I want to make these vows to you:

First: I vow to always offer you the last bite, the last cookie, and the last french fry.

Next: I vow to always offer to let you be Passenger Princess whenever we drive anywhere.

I vow to help get our projects over the finish line (as long as you vow to help get them started in the first place!).

I vow to follow your lead, and to take the reins when you need to follow.

I vow to care for you in sickness and support you through sadness.

And: I vow to love, cherish, and nurture you as my best(est) friend, confidante, and partner in life.

From adopting our first cat to adopting our second just three months later; from adopting-to-fostering our first dog for nine months to fostering-to-adopting our second dog just two months later; from dinner parties to weddings to funerals with family and friends; from our first “well, why not?” kiss to “can you see if this fits?” practice proposal with the practice ring before the real proposal with the real ring just a minute later - the past six (or eight) years have been an adventure, and the happiest I’ve ever had, and I’m excited to get to share all the years to come.

With love, forever and always,

-Kent

Kent –

From the moment you brought me flowers on our very first date, I knew you were special. No one had ever brought me flowers on a date before. And when you told me why you’d chosen the ones you had – because they were “the coolest ones there” – I felt appreciated and seen in a way I never had before. Here was someone earnest and kind and sincere.
I’d like to say I fell in love with you slowly from there, but honestly it never felt like falling. Being with you just felt like coming home, and I love every piece of you.

I love your eyes, and your smile. I love the way you can identify any airplane flying overhead, and that you always stop to admire the small, seemingly mundane moments of our life – like the way the light shines through our sunroom windows.

Kent, you are so funny.

You keep me laughing day and night, and remind me not to take myself too seriously, which we both know I am fully capable of.

I love the jokes we tell each other and that we have a mutual love of wordplay - puns, speaking to each other in song lyrics, and I can’t forget our always animated, artistic, adorably adversarial, alliterative awesomeness.

I love your gentle heart. You keep me grounded when I am spiraling or running away in a daydream. You are my rock, and I love you for that.

And I love that I never thought I would be the one to have to say no to adopting an animal in a relationship - and yet here we are.

Thank you for always listening to what I have to say, whether it’s an animated info dump about the lives of fictional characters, whatever idea I have for my next DIY project or an anxious thought I can’t seem to let go of.

Thank you for accepting me for who I am and for helping me feel like it’s okay to just exist.

You are everything I didn’t know I needed but had been quietly dreaming of for so long. With you, I feel at home in the universe.

I want you for forever.

I don't want you just when times are easy and we're cuddled up with our animals or laughing at our bad puns. I want you when the dishwasher breaks, or the toilet leaks through our ceiling, or wasps invade our home. I want you when the car breaks down or the world shuts down or we have to rehome the dog we thought we'd have forever.

I want you in the low moments, the things fucking suck moments, and I want you in the high moments.

Because with you, the lows don't seem so low and the highs are higher.

Every sunset we chase together is a little more magical. Every meal we share more delicious. Every new city we visit a bit more of an adventure.

Kent, I want you through all moments of my life, for the rest of my life. Every crazy, funny, sad, happy, and mundane one.

I am so lucky to be able to call you my husband from this day forward.

I never could have imagined a better partner for myself. Here is what I vow to you from this day forward.

I vow to treasure you, our bond, and our relationship.

I vow to carry your heart with tenderness and kindness and respect you through disagreements.

I vow to love, cherish, and nurture you as my best(est) friend, confidante, and partner in life.

And I vow to spend the rest of our lives climbing in the car and chasing any and every beautiful sunset we come across.

I vow to love you with the same tenderness, passion, and attentiveness you show to me.

I am so excited to get to call you my husband from today on.