{Epilogue}

To love someone deeply gives you strength.

|Amari|

I can't believe today is the day. Joe and I are getting married. It was a beautiful fall day filled with love, joy and plenty of humor.

Jun. 20, 2016... our wedding day. It came and went in the blink of an eye and holds so many fabulous memories. It was the sort of beautiful fall day I envisioned when I hoped for a fall wedding. We ladies began our day at the Anoai family home. My talented cousin and future sister-in-law arranged our hair while aunts and cousins assisted with preparations. Rob arrived to see me in my dress ahead of time, the photographer was on hand, and before I knew it, it was time to head to the garden venue for the ceremony.

Joe and I but mostly me planned this wedding in two months. It was stressful but totally worth it. I was marrying the man of my dreams.

"In a marriage, each partner is to be an encourager rather than a critic, a forgiver rather than a collector of hurts, and enabler rather than a reformer. The real act of marriage takes place in the heart, not in the ballroom or church or synagogue. It's a choice you make on your wedding day, and over and over again and that choice is reflected in the way you treat your husband...Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. The couple have written their own vows so Amari would you like to start." The pastor said.

"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be. When the darkness rolls in, I'll be there through thick and thin. I don't know where I'd be without you here with me. Life with you makes perfect sense. You're my best friend. Because today, when I look into your eyes, my love for you only grows. It's even stronger now. My love will never waver. And this I vow to you, today, and always and forever. There is no such thing as a perfect man or a perfect marriage. But the one I have is perfect for me." I said tearing up.
" When I sleep, I dream of you, and when I wake, I long to hold you in my arms. If anything, our time apart has only made me more certain that I want to spend my nights by your side, and my days with your heart. I wasn't sure that love could survive everything we put it through, but you were. You were sure, you were always sure. Before we met, I was as lost as a person could be and yet you saw something in me that somehow gave me direction again." Joe said.

"Marriages, like a garden, take time to grow. But the harvest is rich unto those who patiently and tenderly care for the ground.Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance." the pastor said after Joe finished his vows.

" Do you, Amari Paris Leal take Leati Joseph Anoai to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to be bonny and buxom at bed and at board, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance." The pastor said.

"I do. " I said. The pastor asks me the same thing to me.

"I do." He said.

"Then, by the power invested in me by the state of Florida, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride." The minister said. He continues "I now present to you, Mr and Mrs. Leati Joseph Anoai." The pastor said.

Let's start over
We can't let our good love die
Maybe we can start all over
Give love another life