Friday, March 29th, 2013
Gross fluff. Deal with it. talk2hand


Word Count: 1418 (A lot of it I found and borrowed from the internet, though. But whatever, it doesn’t count as a req anymore! XD; )

“We are gathered here today to witness the coming together of two people, Christopher and Paris, whose hearts and spirits are entwined as one. They now desire to profess before all the world their intention henceforth to walk the road of life together.”

It was a beautiful day.

Paris didn’t think the day could have been more perfect, which alternately pleased and annoyed him. The part of him that longed for this day reveled in the utter flawlessness of it, while the part of him that still clung to the last vestiges of a defiant sixteen-year-old scoffed at such a picturesque scene. It was tripe, cliché, such a trivial occurrence beneath the much greater weight of a world and a universe at war, but Paris was grateful for it, and grateful for the peace that seemed to be cast on his life for the space of a single day.

The sun slowly lowered from its peak, unobstructed but the light wisps of clouds that stretched across the great expanse of the blue, blue sky. At least for today the weather was temperate, not cold as it’d been so often recently, but warm. They stood together, side-by-side, with their family and friends around them, in a gazebo set upon a secluded area of the courthouse lawn.

“To these two young people, this marriage signifies the birth of a new spirit, a spirit which is a part of each of us, yet not of any one of us alone. This birth of spirit reminds us of the spring, the season when all life is reborn and looms again. It is appropriate, therefore, that this wedding of Christopher and Paris be in the spring, and that it be under the open sky, where we are close to the earth and to the unity of life, the totality of living things of which we are apart.

“The beliefs and thoughts about love which motivates these two people are perhaps best expressed in the words of the poet Roy Croft.

“‘I love you, not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.’”

Three months passed so quickly; one year and eleven months passed even quicker still. And yet it seemed like such a long time since then, that moment when they each came into the other’s life. The passage of time was at once idle and swift, but it had been kind to them to bring them here.

Too soon? Not soon enough?

Paris was unsure of the answer, but found it made no difference.

“‘I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you, for the part of me that you bring out. I love you, for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart, and passing over all the foolish, weak things that you can’t help dimly seeing there, and for drawing out, into the light, all the beautiful belongings that no one else had looked quite far enough to find. I love you, because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life, not a tavern, but a temple. Out of the works of my every day, not a reproach, but a song. I love you, because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy. You have done it without a touch, without a word, without a sign. You have done it by being yourself.’”

Through all the heartache, all the pain, all the doubts, regrets, and dangers that had come into their lives, they had created this together, something so beautiful it seemed to Paris beyond compare.

But that was what everyone thought, wasn’t it, when they tied their life to another on their wedding day?

“Christopher and Paris, I remind you that marriage is a precious gift, a lifelong commitment, and a challenge to love one another more completely each and every day. Please join hands.”

Chris’s hands in his were warm. Paris looked into Chris’s eyes and saw everything that had brought them here, and everything that would now lead them forward from this place. It was no different from yesterday, and would be no different tomorrow—strengthened by today, but never changed.

“Do you, Paris, knowing Christopher’s love for you and returning it, realizing his strengths and learning from them, recognizing his weaknesses and helping him to overcome them, take him to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him so long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Paris said with conviction.

“Do you, Christopher, knowing Paris’s love for you and returning it, realizing his strengths and learning from them, recognizing his weaknesses and helping him to overcome them, take him to be your lawfully wedded partner? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him so long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Chris said.

“Paris, repeat after me.”

“I, Paris,” Paris recited as led, “take you, Christopher, to be my husband, half of me and all of me. I will take care and cherish our relationship and love you today, tomorrow, and forever. I will be open, honest, and faithful to you…”

“I take you for my partner,” Chris followed when prompted, “to have and to hold from this day on, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish for all the days of my life, until the end of time.”

“May I have the rings, please?”

They were passed forward, held in hand, and given to each of them in turn.

“The ring, an unbroken, never-ending circle, is a symbol of committed, unending love. Christopher, as you place this ring on Paris’s finger, repeat these words after me.”

“This ring,” Chris said, “which has no beginning and no end, symbolizes the love and trust between us that will never cease. May its presence on your hand remind you of my love and vow. I place it on your finger as a visible sign of the promises which have bound us together for life.”

A simple band of platinum then joined the diamond ring already adorning Paris’s finger. The second band, presented to Paris to place upon Chris’s hand, would have been a perfect match but for the small diamond embedded in the metal—pink to match the ring that had been given to Paris upon their engagement.

“This ring,” Paris said, his voice surprisingly strong and even amidst the emotion of the moment, “which has no beginning and no end, symbolizes the love and trust between us that will never cease. May its presence on your hand remind you of my love and vow. I place it on your finger as a visible sign of the promises which have bound us together for life.”

He slid it in place with such a surety it hardly seemed believable that he’d ever been against such symbols and displays of a concept that had once been so foreign to him, and still today seemed so abstract, so immense, too complicated to be accurately understood.

But they didn’t need to understand it. All they needed to know was that it was there.

“Until now, Christopher and Paris have spent each moment of their lives as separate individuals. But from this day on, and every day after, their each moment shall be shared and spent as one. By the power enthroned in me, I now pronounce you partners for life. You may conclude this ceremony with a kiss.”

Paris didn’t know how to feel and so he felt everything at once—overwhelmed, relieved, and unendingly happy.

He kept his grasp on Chris’s hands, and leaned in as Chris closed the small space between them. Then they kissed, a soft and sweet press of lips that had known one another under many different circumstances, but never before as those lawfully joined together.

In the end it was just piece of paper, and a ceremony to give that paper meaning to those who stood as witnesses, but to Paris it was everything, and to Chris it was as encompassing.

It was the last year and eleven months put together into a single day, and the years and years to come unified in a single moment.

“Family and friends, I present to you Christopher and Paris LeFay Gallo.”

I'm gagging. emotion_puke