“To the one you marry you are saying, ‘When my time comes to leave this world, when the chill of eternity blows away my birthdays and my future stands still in the night, it’s your face I want to kiss good-bye. It’s your hand I want to squeeze, as I slip from time to eternity. As the curtain closes on all I have attempted to do and be, I want to look into your eyes and see that I mattered. Not what I looked like or how much money I made, or even how talented I was. I just want to look into the eyes of someone who loved me and see that I mattered.”

T.D. Jakes