This is for all the times you didn’t choose the easy way out and all the times you decided to fix up what broke.

This is for the promises kept and for all the good times that were not ditched at the first obstacle. For choosing to honor our relationship by fighting for it even when it was falling apart, especially then.

This is for the courage of standing against problems together, of facing your own mistakes, of admitting what you have done wrong.

This is for the wisdom of thinking about all the ways through which everything can go right again.

Here is an appreciation for your devotion. For holding my hand when I told you to let go. For being the first around whenever trouble came up. For witnessing all the changes my soul has suffered yet not thinking twice about who I really was, not letting those changes scare you away.

This is for how instead of running, you grabbed a chair and decided to talk. This is for making me talk. For making me know I could trust you with my fears and my tears and my heart.

They say it’s risky to love someone. You put your heart in their hands and you are never sure what they could do with it, but you have shown me something different.

You have shown me that when you love someone who loves you, when you give them your heart, somehow they become a better guard for that heart than you ever were to become. Sometimes they take it upon themselves that nothing ever touches that heart. Sometimes people really cross oceans for the ones they love, leaving no chance for their loved ones to be hurt while they stand idly by.

So here’s to you for healing my wounds, for making me realize my life would have never been the same without you, for being a true friend, for showing me it takes no vow for people to stay—it only takes love and an effort that easily follows.

And here is a thank you for making me a better person, a person who would never leave loved ones behind. Who would sit down to solve problems, speak up when something is wrong, and hold hands when people lose their doubt that love could ever exist.