My freshman year of high school, my English teacher instructed my class to write a paper. The prompt was “How do you imagine your life in five years?” I wrote: College in a big city, a journalism internship and a lofty, brick Brooklyn apartment.

Life changes.

If I was given the same assignment now, I would turn in an empty paper.

This past year, I have learned a lot. Though my dreams will never change, the course of action in which I achieve these long-term goals will. It has.

I have learned that planning the future takes away from the present. I have learned that friends come and go; however, it is the people who stay with you through the hardest times who matter the most.

I have learned that the most beautiful type of love is unexpected.

I never planned on falling in love. I never planned on finding my forever person at a young age. I never planned on giving one person the power to hurt me in the worst ways imaginable. My letter described a small, overpriced apartment made for one.

I wasn’t looking for you.

But I found you, and for that I am forever grateful.

Thank you for teaching me that love is not perfect, teaching me that love is worth all the risk, all the sacrifices and all the pain. Thank you for making me feel safe. You are my guidepost on the gloomiest of days. A warm ray of sunshine directing me toward a safe haven. Thank you for showing me acceptance. Thank you for inspiring me to become a better person. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your world.

I want a forever with you.

I want to spend every day for the rest of my life with you. I want to fall asleep in your arms at dusk. I want to wake up beside you at dawn.

However, you are more than a want. You are a need. I can live without you, but to do that is unimaginable. I can be happy with you, but to do that is unimaginable.

Although my assignment never touched base on a forever life with a soulmate, I’m glad it didn’t. I believe that unplanned love is lustrous. I believe that an unplanned life is exciting and radiant.

Thank you for being you. Thank you for loving me effortlessly and unconditionally. Thank you for unexpectedly entering my life.

I love you. I fall in love with you everyday. The butterflies never fade away.