Wife to Husband

         At this moment, I can’t help but look back at the past years and breathe a sigh of relief because in you, I have finally found my home. All the 10,000 little things I had to go through have been culminated in that very moment the church doors opened for me to make my walk towards you, my beloved one, my chosen one, hand in hand with Mary and Christ. Seeing you at the end of the aisle made every single sacrifice and struggle worth it.

         Now, my dearest Raphael, our married life begins. We will finally go through everything we have watched our parents go through. We will finally live the dreams we talked about whenever we sat on our favorite bench in the park, our dreams of becoming one, of starting a family, of living life side by side.

          I vow that with you, and only you, we will create a beautiful family, a village, a community that is uniquely Raphael and Deanne Dimacali while still creating our own world that only you and I can understand. I vow to express my love for you during the highlights of our life but to deeply love you in all the average, unremarkable details and delicacies of our everyday. I vow to become the woman you need me to be, to continually possess the feminine spirit that will illuminate your manhood even more. I vow to keep our marriage strong and true especially in a world that seeks to redefine marriage in every way possible. And most of all, I vow to reflect Christ’s fierce and loyal love in my heart, to allow Him to love you and speak to you through me.

         Before everyone here today, I also want to say thank you for letting me go when I left for London, for supporting me in the pursuit of my dreams. You didn’t contain me then and now, I vow not to contain you. When I said yes to your proposal, your dream of becoming a husband and a father became my dream as well. With that, I vow to die to my own plans and individualistic ambitions. I vow to be your wife and the mother of your children so that you can be the man God desires you to be. I vow to let the light shine in our own little corner of the world, in our own home that we will build together.

        And I promise you that after we have experienced life in all its fullness, in its richness, after we have crafted our personal legacies together, everything we would have done will culminate in a final walk. In a final walk towards our Father’s heavenly face. This time I won’t be alone because I will be going towards Him, hand in hand with you. It is only then that our love story will come full circle. In the meantime, let’s finally begin our much-awaited married life. I love you, deeply, sacrificially, and joyfully, Raphael. I love you, buddy. Always and forever.

Photography by Toto Villaruel