Mo,

When I moved to California after dating you for just a year and a half, we said we would take a healthy approach to being long distance, and not make any expectations about where our relationship went. But it took all of 24 hours for me to call you, with tears in my eyes, telling you how much I missed you and loved you.

It’s because every time I’m with you, it feels like magic.

• When I’m adrift, you listen, you think, and your words make me feel more grounded than before.
• When we talk about the world, you always bring some new and amazing insight that I would have never thought of.
• When you kiss me, I feel the force of your love, and the depth of your heart.

But in fact, it’s not magic. It’s simply the person you are. You invest time in reading, you listen to people, and you think deeply about the world. And you make it a priority to love and take care of the people around you.

You are my rock. You are the one that keeps me grounded, and yet in doing so, you are the one that helps me soar. You are a force like none other, and I would have never in a million years have expected to be so lucky as to have you decide to share your life with me.

To you, I promise to share not only the joys of life, but also the hard work of building a life together. That’s what our marriage will be about.

I promise to constantly show you how much I love you.

I promise to continuously make our marriage and our life together better.

I promise to be your source of comfort and joy. To make you laugh and to kiss you and hold you. To be your rock no matter what life throws your time.

I promise to drag you into new experiences, even if you don’t think you will like them at first. This includes, but is not limited to, things like hot tubs, trashy TV shows, and rocky outcrops in the ocean just when the tide is starting to go up.

I promise to be your support system; to push you to take risks and be the best you possibly can be. I will be there for you no matter what, and you will be better as a result.

I promise that every time I hold you and kiss you, you will know just how much I love you.

Mo, I love you more than you could ever know.

Charlie,

The moment anyone meets you, they instantly see that you are a uniquely kind, authentic, sweet person. Even animals immediately love you.

I’ve had the privilege of living and breathing just how exceptional you are. You’ve shown me that the most courageous thing I can do is to love everything and everyone, most especially myself. You patiently drag me kicking and screaming to new things. And now I take more baths and burn more candles than you. I’ve learned not to doubt your intuition and I’m all the richer for it. That imagination of yours awes me, surprises me, makes me laugh, and makes me think.

You are my muse. You are Dionysus to my Apollo. I can’t get enough of your creative, mysterious, generative, chaotic energy. I am so lucky, so honored, so grateful that you would share that beautiful soul of yours with me forever.

Our marriage will be about sharing our joys, offering our strengths, and building the life we want together.

I will savor every droplet of our days together.

On sunny days, I will rain kisses on you and shower you with I-love-yous. I will never let you forget that I think you’re beautiful and that you are my best friend.

On rainy days, I will follow you onto any rocky outcropping you want. And – even though I told you we’d get stranded – I’ll find us a way back.

When I smell you, I will be all nose. When I kiss you, I will be all lips. When you call for me, I will be all yours.

There will be no man happier than me when you laugh your belly laugh.

I won’t get too mad when you open up your computer and all your software is out of date.

I will remember that the things you do that make me furious are exactly the things that make me madly in love with you:

• You look at things a little differently
• You intuit in mysterious ways
• You improvise in the moment and make it work

I’ll keep my opinions about the beach to myself.

I will be your most loyal fan, your sharpest critic, and your most stubborn advocate.

Finally, and most importantly, I don’t know what we will encounter on our journey together. But I will face whatever comes our way with you.

• Robyn Yee of Catalyst, who made the day go by like a dream.
• Honey Palakavong of Lotus Floral Designs, whose spontaneous arrangements expressed the spirit of the event we envisioned.
• Ken Shano of Big City Wedding Band, who brought down the house.
• Andrea Servidone Pelto of Servidone Studios, who captured our most authentic us on our special day.
• Lizzie Lin Johnson of Lizzie's Bakery, whose cake there was barely any left.
• Rosaria Salerno, who made it official.
• Nora Connolly of More Than Words, who rescued our Friday night.
• Michaela Wong of Boston Marriott Cambridge, whose Sunday brunch got us over our hangover.