A Covenant in Snow and Champagne

Published by Sean Champagne
January 26, 2014
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes
Tags: Vows, Stockholm, Elopement, Romance, Winter, Commitment

Raven,

Of all the improbable, chaotic, serendipitous ways a life can begin—

we began with a missed connection.

A fleeting moment, cast into the void of the internet in Bellingham, Washington—
answered not with hesitation, but with instinct.

And somehow, from that small and almost ridiculous beginning,
we built something vast.

A life.

A home in Seattle.
Two dachshunds with far too much personality for their size.
A rhythm, a language, a shared understanding that exists somewhere between laughter and certainty.

And now—

Stockholm.

Look at this day.

Snow falling as if the entire city has agreed to soften itself for us.
The air crisp, almost theatrical in its stillness.
The kind of cold that doesn’t bite, but rather preserves.

As if time itself has paused—
just long enough to witness this.

You and me.

Standing here not as who we were when we met—
but as everything we have become since.

Raven, you are—

how do I say this without sounding unbearably grand?

You are my counterpart in indulgence and restraint.
My co-conspirator in living well.
My fellow bon vivant in a world that often forgets to savor itself.

We do not simply exist.

We delight.

In food, in travel, in beauty, in the absurd, in the exquisite—
and, most importantly, in each other.

You have made my life not just fuller—

but finer.

More considered.
More intentional.
More alive.

And what we are doing here today—

it is not a performance.

It is not tradition for tradition’s sake.

It is a decision.

A deliberate, undeniable, elegant decision—

to continue.

To continue building, exploring, evolving.
To continue choosing each other in rooms familiar and cities unknown.
To continue creating a life that feels as rich as it looks from the outside.

I promise you this:

I will meet you in every chapter with the same curiosity that brought us together.

I will build with you—
not just a life that functions—

but a life that feels.

A life that sparkles.
A life that moves.
A life that we are proud to call ours.

And when the world feels ordinary—

I will remind us both that we were never meant to be.

Because we chose this.

In Stockholm.
In the snow.
In a moment that feels almost too beautiful to be real—

but is.

And will always be.

Forever begins here.

With you.