Anno Cinque

Five years ago today I crafted the words below to publicly express my love and commitment to My Beloved, Cindy. Yes, I waited 'til the last minute (the ceremony was at 4 that afternoon!) to write my wedding vows. Anxiety/excitement was to blame for the procrastination, but it was the same anxiety that inspired me to write these words with neither hesitation nor reservation.

Cindy, you are my one and only beloved, my beautiful1, my best friend, my Godsend. I have loved you, love you and will love you till my last breath. Before our God and before these people, by the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus, I promise...

to love you as My 1&Only Beloved: To care for you, to provide for you; to treasure you, to cherise you; to place before every other human being in my attention and my affection.

to love you as My Beautiful1: From your sparking eyes that grow even brighter as you smile, to your hearty laughter and joyful shrieks that reveal your fun-loving nature; From your sweet singing voice now to the day it starts to crack; from your lively stories that tell me how your day went, to your cold silence that tells me you're not OK; From the glorious glow that radiates from you when you wake up in the morning [so I've been told] to the wrinkles and white hair that may overtake us once the twilight of life comes, I will love you.

to love you as My Best Friend: to talk with you, to listen to; to work with, to play with; to cry with, to laugh with; to argue with, to make up with; to share joys and sorrows, pleasure and pain, victories and failures, ease and hardship; I will be there for you and I will love you.

to love you as My Godsend: Second only to Christ, you are God's greatest gift to me. I know love because God first loved me. As I have experienced love from above when God sent His greatest gift, His Son Jesus, I have now glimpsed and started to truly learn human love on earth when God sent you to me. You are my Godsend, a gift, a blessing from above that I will always cherish and be thankful for. I look forward to growing with you in grace, serving the Lord with the gifts and abilities He has blessed us with. Today, I invite you with the words of Psalm 34 verse 3, "Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together." Cindy, ikaw and natatangi at nag-iisang iniibig ko, aking magandang mahal, aking pinakamatalik na kaibigan, biyaya ng Amang Maykapal. Minahal kita, minamahal kita, at mamahalin kita hanggang kamatayan.

The photo above is one one of my favorites. It shows Cindy in a contemplative (prayerful?) mood just moments before she was to march down the aisle. How lovely my bride was! What's even better is, today, she is even more beautiful ;-)

We're "sneaking" out a little later for lunch at an undisclosed place (my first time to go there, too). My anniversary gift to her this morning was a digital photo frame with a memory card containing photos chronicling our journey together: from our wedding day up to the present with Matt & Zach. I also put in some mp3s of songs that we are both fond of, as well as those I "sentimentalised" over during our courtship up to our first years together.

Happy Fifth Anniversary My Beloved, MyBeautiful1 ;¤