Nine Years Later...

Photography by Erin Kelly

I still remember so vividly the day you first told me you that you were mine. You came flying up my stairs, you locked me away from the ears all around us, and you told me you had read my note. I remember being so scared when I saw you because I knew I had put it all on the line and all I could do was hope that you felt the same. My heart was pounding, and I certainly don't recall what you said, but I remember your smile and I knew what that smile meant.

That was such an amazing summer! I went running the other day and I treated myself with a visit to a world that existed nine years ago. I ran by the beach where I tried to play a game of wiffle ball, by the pier where you announced that having a girlfriend meant losing your favorite T-Shirt, up the crowded street where we were young and dumb with our friends every night of the week, and eventually past that corner where I remember realizing that I was driving a U-Haul away from my old life forever. Even then, I would have followed you anywhere...

It's been nine years of love and laughter for me and I don't think that any other girl has ever been so lucky. I often wonder what I did to be given a man like you to share my life with and I pray that this happiness will never fade. I can't help but smile at the things that have changed for us over the years. Today, I miss you because I know you would still bring me a coffee on your way home, just because it makes me happy, but more importantly that you would smile that smile of yours when I start yelling about what that coffee cost. I laugh because I know you would be irritated with all the lights I leave on at night but that you would simply sigh and turn them off for me anyway. I miss you so much because, even though you're the sensible one, you remind me every day to quit taking things too seriously. I miss how you let me dump the troubles of the world on you and how you manage to solve my life problems with a raised eyebrow, a smile, or a hug. Nine years ago, the things that trouble me today didn't matter to us yet, but you still had that way of letting me know, just by being you, that life was going to turn out OK.

Thank you, my love, for being mine...for caring about me the way you do, for being the rock our family depends on, for being our calm in any storm, for always packing way too many supplies no matter how short the trip might be, and for patiently reminding me daily during this time of separation that you will never stop showing me just how much you care. You're my love and I know that life is what it is simply because you are mine.