The Speech Glendon gave at our Wedding Reception.
They say that each soul is split into two halves, and placed inside two people at birth .... and a few of the luckiest are able to journey through this life on a path that leads them together.
I gave up the idea of soul mates years ago.
Shrek and Fiona, perfect example. A princess and an ogre, separated by just about every imaginable barrier life could invent. That movie makes me cry. That movie always made me SAD. I knew I hadn't found my princess, and the years began to pile up and after a while it just became easier to NOT believe in soul mates.
So the first time I saw Monica's profile picture on LiveJournal, I wasn't sure why I recognized her.
Kermit and Miss Piggy, another good example. (sorry babe, the girls in my examples are no reflection on how beautiful YOU are.....) No matter how many Muppet movies they make, no matter how many times they reset the characters and put them on paths to meet each other all over again, Kermit and Miss Piggy are always destined to be together. They are soul mates. But, they are also puppets.
But I recognized Monica that night. Not her face, I knew I had never seen her before. There was a strange connection to HER, the person behind the LJ profile, and it made something deep inside of me come to life.
So I started following her journal, and we started chatting here and there. One night, while I was buried under 18 inches of snow, she asked my permission to think about me while she sits on her porch in a tank top and flip flops. That was the moment that I knew I was in love with her.
I asked if I could text her and she said "sure". We spent Valentine's Day 2011 together. Her date cancelled (thank you, Jessica!) and I was home with my kids and we texted all night. It was the fourth straight day that we had been texting every single waking moment.
We had been talking exactly one week when I sent her an email that said:
You are amazing.
Everything about you ... your smile .... your laugh .... the way you say the word "books".... the way you text me sideways hearts when you don't know what else to say........
The way you keep talking to me, even though you are clearly ....CLEARLY .... out of my league.
The love you have for your son ... the fact your son is awesome .... the strength and perseverance you have to overcome all of the trials of your life....
All of it makes it difficult, to even .... breathe.....sometimes.
I feel something for you that terrifies me ...... yet, won't allow me stop smiling.
I lose my breath every time you text me. Like a kid pouncing on that first Christmas gift of the morning ... I can't wait to see what your next thought is.
And when the phone goes silent, the disconnection is haunting.
You are beautiful, to me. In every way.
You are my book. And I am devouring your pages at an obsessive pace. And as long as you keep allowing me in, my goal is to make you want me as much as I want you.
You see, it had taken less than a week for me to realize that the reason I recognized Monica when I saw her on LJ .... was because she was the other half of my soul. Maybe my mind had given up the search, but my heart had never stopped looking in every dark corner in hopes of finding her.
And here she was.
One night, she was out on a date with some guy .... but she texted me the entire time. She asked me to come kidnap her, so we could be together.
On our 16th day of texting, I told her that I was going to buy a plane ticket to come to Florida. She said that would be great. A few minutes later, I emailed her my flight itinerary, and .... she said it made her sick to her stomach. She said she had only been kidding.
She does that a lot, she tells me things like "I want to have a baby" and then when I get her pregnant, she tells me she was just kidding. But, anyway.......
I made that flight, and ..... she was late to the airport. I was in the baggage claim at the Fort Myers airport, and everyone on my flight had cleared out, and .... that's a really gigantic room to be standing in all alone. She called me when she arrived, and stayed on the phone as she descended two flights of stairs to the lower level of the terminal. She was on one side of that really big room, and I on the other, and we saw each other ... for the first time. I knew it was her, because what are the odds of seeing a different 9 foot tall, black haired girl in an empty airport holding a phone to her ear?
You know that moment in old movies, as two star-crossed lovers see each other and begin to run towards each other, through a field, in slow motion? We didn't run, we walked. But.... as she came closer and closer to me, as I began to make out the details of her face, I was immersed in an overwhelming peace, as my soul realized that its search was over. It no longer felt like "the first time I would meet Monica", but rather the moment two halves of one soul would finally reunite.
According to my AT&T bill, we had exchanged 30,000 text messages by the time we met that day. Do you have any comprehension how well you know someone when you've averaged 500 text messages per day for 2 straight months? Probably better than the average couple on their wedding day.
One thing I had told her in some of those messages was that ... I didn't want to kiss her in the airport, in public, with people watching ... I wanted it to be private, intimate, special. But sometimes, the heart wants what it wants, and no amount of cerebral logic can override that. The moment she was close enough, I took her hand, pulled her to me, and pressed my lips against hers in what I knew ... instantly....would be my last first kiss.
She giggled and pulled away.
We spent 5 amazing days together that April, and I returned for 5 more equally as wonderful days in May. Those 10 days were all we had spent physically together when I asked her to be mine forever. And through her tears, she said yes.
Despite our differences, and like Shrek and Fiona, there are quite a few .... we are ... in a word .... perfect ... for each other. And despite being born years and miles apart, like Kermit and Miss Piggy, our souls were destined to find each other no matter what.
Perhaps the idea of soul mates -- two halves of a soul, searching for each other -- perhaps it really is a just beautiful fiction. But if so, I suspect they will write books about you and me someday.
Thank you for being my wife. I love you.
I gave up the idea of soul mates years ago.
Shrek and Fiona, perfect example. A princess and an ogre, separated by just about every imaginable barrier life could invent. That movie makes me cry. That movie always made me SAD. I knew I hadn't found my princess, and the years began to pile up and after a while it just became easier to NOT believe in soul mates.
So the first time I saw Monica's profile picture on LiveJournal, I wasn't sure why I recognized her.
Kermit and Miss Piggy, another good example. (sorry babe, the girls in my examples are no reflection on how beautiful YOU are.....) No matter how many Muppet movies they make, no matter how many times they reset the characters and put them on paths to meet each other all over again, Kermit and Miss Piggy are always destined to be together. They are soul mates. But, they are also puppets.
But I recognized Monica that night. Not her face, I knew I had never seen her before. There was a strange connection to HER, the person behind the LJ profile, and it made something deep inside of me come to life.
So I started following her journal, and we started chatting here and there. One night, while I was buried under 18 inches of snow, she asked my permission to think about me while she sits on her porch in a tank top and flip flops. That was the moment that I knew I was in love with her.
I asked if I could text her and she said "sure". We spent Valentine's Day 2011 together. Her date cancelled (thank you, Jessica!) and I was home with my kids and we texted all night. It was the fourth straight day that we had been texting every single waking moment.
We had been talking exactly one week when I sent her an email that said:
You are amazing.
Everything about you ... your smile .... your laugh .... the way you say the word "books".... the way you text me sideways hearts when you don't know what else to say........
The way you keep talking to me, even though you are clearly ....CLEARLY .... out of my league.
The love you have for your son ... the fact your son is awesome .... the strength and perseverance you have to overcome all of the trials of your life....
All of it makes it difficult, to even .... breathe.....sometimes.
I feel something for you that terrifies me ...... yet, won't allow me stop smiling.
I lose my breath every time you text me. Like a kid pouncing on that first Christmas gift of the morning ... I can't wait to see what your next thought is.
And when the phone goes silent, the disconnection is haunting.
You are beautiful, to me. In every way.
You are my book. And I am devouring your pages at an obsessive pace. And as long as you keep allowing me in, my goal is to make you want me as much as I want you.
You see, it had taken less than a week for me to realize that the reason I recognized Monica when I saw her on LJ .... was because she was the other half of my soul. Maybe my mind had given up the search, but my heart had never stopped looking in every dark corner in hopes of finding her.
And here she was.
One night, she was out on a date with some guy .... but she texted me the entire time. She asked me to come kidnap her, so we could be together.
On our 16th day of texting, I told her that I was going to buy a plane ticket to come to Florida. She said that would be great. A few minutes later, I emailed her my flight itinerary, and .... she said it made her sick to her stomach. She said she had only been kidding.
She does that a lot, she tells me things like "I want to have a baby" and then when I get her pregnant, she tells me she was just kidding. But, anyway.......
I made that flight, and ..... she was late to the airport. I was in the baggage claim at the Fort Myers airport, and everyone on my flight had cleared out, and .... that's a really gigantic room to be standing in all alone. She called me when she arrived, and stayed on the phone as she descended two flights of stairs to the lower level of the terminal. She was on one side of that really big room, and I on the other, and we saw each other ... for the first time. I knew it was her, because what are the odds of seeing a different 9 foot tall, black haired girl in an empty airport holding a phone to her ear?
You know that moment in old movies, as two star-crossed lovers see each other and begin to run towards each other, through a field, in slow motion? We didn't run, we walked. But.... as she came closer and closer to me, as I began to make out the details of her face, I was immersed in an overwhelming peace, as my soul realized that its search was over. It no longer felt like "the first time I would meet Monica", but rather the moment two halves of one soul would finally reunite.
According to my AT&T bill, we had exchanged 30,000 text messages by the time we met that day. Do you have any comprehension how well you know someone when you've averaged 500 text messages per day for 2 straight months? Probably better than the average couple on their wedding day.
One thing I had told her in some of those messages was that ... I didn't want to kiss her in the airport, in public, with people watching ... I wanted it to be private, intimate, special. But sometimes, the heart wants what it wants, and no amount of cerebral logic can override that. The moment she was close enough, I took her hand, pulled her to me, and pressed my lips against hers in what I knew ... instantly....would be my last first kiss.
She giggled and pulled away.
We spent 5 amazing days together that April, and I returned for 5 more equally as wonderful days in May. Those 10 days were all we had spent physically together when I asked her to be mine forever. And through her tears, she said yes.
Despite our differences, and like Shrek and Fiona, there are quite a few .... we are ... in a word .... perfect ... for each other. And despite being born years and miles apart, like Kermit and Miss Piggy, our souls were destined to find each other no matter what.
Perhaps the idea of soul mates -- two halves of a soul, searching for each other -- perhaps it really is a just beautiful fiction. But if so, I suspect they will write books about you and me someday.
Thank you for being my wife. I love you.