Thank you for loving me quietly. For taking the time to remember how many sugars I take in my morning coffee, for knowing me well enough to notice when I am happy or sad, disappointed or overwhelmed. In the silence I notice everything you do — how you reach for my hand when I am having a nightmare, how you hold me a little tighter when I see something that softens me.

Thank you for choosing me every single day. For fighting for what we have when difficulty hangs heavy in the air, for insisting that we are stronger together, capable of proving the odds wrong, filled with the potential to make even the hardships that will meet us into lessons, into seeds that grow us. Thank you for always being my voice of reason. For calming me down when doubt sinks into my skin, for building my restless a heart a safe place within your very own.

Thank you for inspiring me to be a better person. For seeing gardens within me when I saw cemeteries. You have this beautiful way of reflecting your vision into my eyes, this talent for showing me the person I am and the person I have every opportunity to be. Thank you for always supporting me, for ruthlessly believing in my mind and in my talent every moment I question my purpose. Thank you for being proud of me.

Thank you for always letting me know how much you care. For the “good morning” letters I wake up to on weekdays, for the small messages you send me when you remember something I did that made you laugh. Thank you for making me a part of your life even when we are apart – for the lunch break phone calls, to the photos you send me when you’re bored. Thank you for making me feel missed, thank you for making me feel appreciated.

Thank you for loving the parts of myself I used to hide, for cherishing the quirks and the twists that others always wanted to untie. Thank you for adoring the fact that I sometimes snort when I laugh, for admiring my terrible jokes and my love for 80s power ballads. Thank you for thinking my two left feet are adorable, for stopping to stare at me and smile when I am hyper and dancing around every busy city street. Thank you for accepting me, and all of my offbeat ways, for it has helped me to accept myself.

Most importantly —  thank you for making an effort that stretches far beyond a simple bouquet of loud red roses. For making it your mission to make me smile; to fill my life with wonder. You and your ability to love so openly, and so deeply, despite what you have been through is stunning. With every new day you make me want to discover more and more ways to make you happy, you make me want to invent new words that could rightfully describe just how much I feel for you. You have taught me that love can thrive, that it can come back into your life and change you from the inside. You have taught me how courageous it is to simply have faith in the heart of another, and all I can say, with every inch of my patchwork soul, is thank you. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for how you love.