In 2017, I fell in love with you.

I fell in love with the pace of how we got to know each other. It wasn’t love at first sight, electrifying heart-racing encounter, and we weren’t drawn to each other like our lives depended on it. It was a slow gradual process where we made the transitions from strangers to friends, and eventually to lovers.

I wasn’t addicted to the adrenaline rush each time you texted me or when I got to see you because I felt safe with you. I wasn’t obsessed with thinking of you because you’re an open book to me. I wasn’t fixated on wanting to get together with you because I know we have all the time in the world. I wasn’t terrified to fall for you because you gave me the right feeling.

I fell in love with your sincerity. I was touched by the friendship you offered me. You were willing to be my friend first before promising me forever. You were willing to take things steadily with me and build a lasting connection. You were willing to be there for me in every way possible.

I fell in love with your generosity and selflessness to give me the best you have. You always treat me as your priority, your most important person, and your home that you so dearly protect. You show me that I’m enough the way I am without the need to be someone else for you to accept me. You love me for all my insecurities and flaws, as they’re the reasons why you fell for me. You encourage me endlessly to dream bigger, to strive to be a better person and to love harder with my whole body and soul.

Before I met you, I had no idea that love is such a beautiful thing. It is being completely myself and being utterly content to live in the present with the man of my dream. It is feeling excited and purposeful to be working towards a common goal of spending the rest of our lives together. It is feeling this serenity and calmness to be with the one I love every day.

You were the best thing that happened to me in 2017. You dismantled my defenses and gave me the courage to begin our story with optimism and faith. You write our chapters with love, devotion, and commitment. You redefine what I think of love and now, I want to write our happy ending together.

Thank you for taking a chance on us by pursuing me fearlessly. Thank you for persisting to win my affection and never once thought of giving up on us. Thank you for seeing the good in me and believing in my strength even when I don’t have faith in myself. Thank you for being my pillar of support, my constant in my life, and the light of my world.

I let my eyes travel to your soft lips that give me murmurs of much-needed encouragement, the peak of kisses until I’m giggling with laughter, and your smiles of tender promises to never let me go. Slowly I looked upwards and my heart skipped a beat meeting my eyes with yours. Your eyes pulled me into the intimate part of your world and for a while, I’m just content to stare back into your eyes unable to break our gazes. It was in that moment of quiet simplicity did I realized how much I have grown to care for you and how incredibly fortunate I am to be with you.

In 2017, we found each other and it was everything I imagined it to be and more. I can’t wait for the upcoming year with you. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.