My Neha,
Today marks ten years since the beginning of our relationship.
Back in January 2014, during the snowy MLK long weekend, we chose to begin our relationship with a scenic train ride through upstate New York. It was our first out-of-state trip together as a couple. Somewhere in that winter landscape, we both knew this was not the start of something temporary. This was a journey that would last a lifetime.
In these ten years, we have made countless memories, overcome difficult seasons, started a few businesses, gotten married, had a child, bought a house, built a home, and danced our way through a decade of love.
Today, on this snowy weekend in 2024, I want to reflect on our journey and on the future still before us.
We began our relationship the year I turned thirty. This year, I will turn forty. You have been with me through my entire thirties. There is something powerful in that. To have someone walk beside you through those years when boys mature into men, when responsibility deepens, when character is tested, and when a man begins to understand what it means to become a source of strength for his family.
I also want to revisit the wedding vows I deeply contemplated, wrote, and promised to you on our wedding day.
Today, my beloved, I vow to you:
In moments of joy, I shall laugh beside you, our hearts in unison.
In times of sorrow, I will be your solace, a beacon of comfort and peace.
Together, we shall chase dreams, with my support steadfast as you seek life’s bliss.I promise to listen with empathy and understanding, and to speak in tones of kindness and tenderness.
From this sacred day forward, my heart is irrevocably intertwined with yours.
My love for you is unbounded, free from hesitation, and beyond all judgment.I embrace you, all that you are, and all that you will become.
Together, let us embark on life’s grandest adventure: building a family and nurturing our love through time.I vow to grow old with you through all that life bestows upon us.
For in your presence, every challenge is surmountable, every joy magnified.
In your eyes, I find a love eternal, transcending the bounds of time and space.And so, as I have given you my hand to hold, so too, I entrust you with my life.
From this moment until our final breaths, and beyond into the vastness of eternity.
I think I need to write a similar commitment to our daughter, Aura. Perhaps we should all have similar vows for the people we love most: our spouses, parents, siblings, and families. After all, these relationships are crucial to a happy life. They keep us grounded in what truly matters.
What began as a scenic train ride through snowy mountains has led us to this present moment, where we are blessed with our daughter, Aura, the greatest blessing in our lives.
During this past decade, we discovered and deepened our shared love for travel and adventure. Together, we have visited more than twenty-five countries across five continents, and all fifty U.S. states.
We hiked and climbed some of the remotest mountains and hills in the country while pursuing the game of highpointing, reaching 41 of the 50 U.S. state highpoints. Some of these places were so remote that it felt as though it was only the two of us and the vastness of the wilderness.
We have both grown so much in these years, and because of that, we have also changed.
My wedding vow captured something I understand even more deeply now: “I embrace you, all that you are, and all that you will become.”
As life brings new challenges, new responsibilities, and the busyness of everyday chores and mundane tasks, I need to remember this truth now more than ever.
During this decade, we have both lost family members, including our fathers. We remember them, and we miss them. Loss has taught us to cherish what we still have, and who is still here with us now.
Life teaches many things with time, but one thing it can never fully prepare you for is the fear of losing someone you love, including each other.
That truth makes me want to commit even more deeply to kindness, to give my all to our marriage, and to make the next ten years even grander, sweeter, and fuller of love and new memories.
I promise you, and I promise myself, that our future will be bigger than our past, and that the next ten years will be even more meaningful than the epic ride of the last ten. I believe that when our future is bigger than our past, we begin to live with greater joy, hope, and anticipation.
Cheers to the many decades ahead, my love.
I love you, and I look forward to all that is still waiting for us. xo
Forever in love, forever yours,
Salil
