Rowan, I want to promise to love you and cherish you for the rest of my life. You are so easy to love, that I an't imagine not spending the rest of my life loving you. But I also don't want to promise anything too outlandish, like always remembering to do the dishes or not stealing your clothes. Those are just too unrealistic. So instead, I will promise to face every challenge side by side with you and come out stronger every time. You really have changed me fundamentally as a person in all the best ways. And know we will continue to change and grow together. You taught me how to love myself, really love myself. You taught me how to be confident in what I can accomplish and how to ask for help when I need it. And you taught me how to see the future. And it is bright and wonderful, and full of moments with you. I can't know what's coming next, but I am ready to face it all with you by my side. You are my first relationship and every day am in awe that I got it right on the first try. And I swear to show you every day just how certain I am that I was right. You are absolutely perfect for me. When I first asked you out, I asked, "What if we dated?" I have since found out. You have turned me into someone who is not afraid to ask the question but excited to hear the answer. So what if we got married? What if we start a life together? What if we start a family together? What if we held hands in rocking chairs on the front porch of a house we built? What if we grow old together? What if I get to spend the rest of my life falling in love with you over and over again? Let's find out!
Erin, I wrote and rewrote this at least 15 times. I have never in my life struggled to write anything like I’ve struggled to write this. I thought it would be easy, honestly. I tell you how much I love you constantly - it’s one of my favorite things to do - and it’s not like that well is running dry any time soon, so I really wasn’t anticipating how hard this would be. A wedding is just one big, expensive promise, right? And marriage itself is an even bigger promise you make again and again, forever. If a promise is a rule of thumb we both agree to follow through on, I want to make you some pinky promises to cover everything before I take your full hand in marriage, so to speak. I pinky promise to hug you every time we come home to each other. I pinky promise to scratch your back or massage your feet after your hard days. I pinky promise to always remember when we need to wash the sheets. I pinky promise to trim the cats’ nails so you don’t have to. I pinky promise to always tell you what I love about every dish you cook for me. I pinky promise to try watching any TV show you ask me to, and I pinky promise to let you down gently when I don’t like them. I pinky promise to let you wear my clothes even when you forget to ask first. I pinky promise to trust in your decisions, and I pinky promise to share in your mistakes. I pinky promise to always defend your ice cream from the cats. I pinky promise to add yet more duets to our annoyingly long repertoire. I pinky promise to always listen to every story about your life that I’ve already heard a dozen times. I pinky promise to tickle you as often as you’ll let me. I pinky promise to hold your hand when we’re arguing, and I pinky promise that no matter how many tries it takes you to find the right words I will always let you start your sentence over and try again.
I pinky promise to try my best to watch every video of a cute duck that you send me. I pinky promise to help you shop for pants because it’s just hard to know what fits. I pinky promise to do all I can to keep your hair ties away from Ditto. I pinky promise to always set my alarm 10 minutes earlier than I need to so you don’t have to wake up without cuddles. I promise to be gentle. I promise to be kind. I promise to make loving me a choice you can be proud of, and I promise to choose to love you again and again, forever.