For my B ~

I wish I could say all the things, do all the things, that could make you understand just how wonderful my life with you has been.  But, because I fear I shall fall far short in using my own words, I offer these...

"... I have remained in this new world for nearly thirty years [35 years for us, my love!].  I know that my achievement is quite ordinary.  I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from his home, and certainly I am not the first.  Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept.  As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination." 

 ~ From:  The Third and Final Continent included in The Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri                       

While not exactly the author's intention, on reading this passage, I immediately thought of you my love; of our life together.  Though in many ways ever so ordinary - getting to know one another completely, sharing meals (my first hummus, fresh asparagus, Greek and Cuban foods), seeing bits of the world through the eyes of the other, helping each other grow, building a family, a home, a life - it has been the most spectacular existence I could ever have imagined for myself.  

Likewise, from the first time I ever heard it, Jewel's song expressed exactly what it feels like to have your love, your physical presence in my life:

Running fast through a fairy tale
Dark woods; starless night
Feel cold air in my lungs
Full moon, you follow me-you say
"Why do hearts so often stray?"
You pierce me like an arrow
Beneath the blanket of night
Longing for flight

When you fall into me
It feels so sweet, like dreaming
Press yourself into me
Let me feel your breathing
There's a voice in your heart
Softly calling
Come to me you will see, just give in
To this sweet temptation

I awake, do a double take to see
Where it is that I lay-it could be
Day or night, I'm not quite sure
Your absence is a thorn
Your flesh, your skin
Is the only flag there is to believe in

I can love you like nobody else

When you fall into me
It feels so sweet, like dreaming
Press yourself into me
Let me feel your breathing
There's a voice in your heart
Softly calling

                                             ~ Sweet Temptation, Jewel

YOU have loved me like nobody else.  YOU have always been my very best friend, my biggest cheerleader, my fearless (and relentless) advocate, my lover, my all.  Even though I am the planner, you have never failed to remember and create amazing moments no matter the crazy we may be struggling through - a hot air balloon ride on my 30th birthday, flowers at my table in our fav Italian restaurant (even if it is in San Francisco!!!), and all that is silly and wonderful today.  Thank you on this most special of our days, and on all the others in between, for being you; my beautiful boy.  For loving me.

I love you with all that I am ~ for always. your les.