Maybe it’s a little selfish, but I want to be the reason you smile.

When you open your eyes in the morning, and roll over to the other side of the bed, I want your thoughts to drift to me. I want you to reach for your phone, reach for my sleeping body, reach across the empty space and wish I was there. I want you to text me, to put your gentle hand on my back, to run the fabric of your sheets between your fingertips and think of how wonderful it would be to wake up next to me for the rest of your life.

I don’t want to be your everything. I don’t want to be the center of your universe or the planet your world revolves around. I don’t want to be praised or elevated, seen as this perfect creature on a pedestal; I just want to be the reason you lips curve into a smile. I just want to be the source of your pitter-patter heartbeat. I just want to be the explanation for your sweaty hands and nervous laugh.

I just want to be the reason you love life.

See, if and when we fall in love, I promise to bring you happiness. I promise to bring you laughter. I promise to bring you silliness and stubbornness and strangeness and all my little quirks.

I promise to take you to all the places I love and intertwine my fingers in yours as we walk down the streets. I promise to bring you to my favorite restaurants and give you bites off my plate. I promise to ride all the rollercoasters with you, jump into the ocean with you, to tumble down big hills with you, letting our hair get all crazy and grass get stuck to our clothes.

I promise to dance with you. I promise to kiss you in the rain. I promise to drive with the windows down and sing with you at the top of my lungs and make you smile so big it hurts.

I promise to give you a million and one memories you’ll never forget, and moments when you’ll look away, laughing to yourself, wondering how the hell we ever found each other, and praying that we never drift.

See, all I want is to be yours. Be the reason you can’t wait for the weekend. Be the reason you love to run. Be the reason you celebrate taco Tuesday nights, because you know I’ll be there, eating and drinking and licking salsa off my fingers just as much as you. Be the reason you’re addicted to Netflix. Be the reason you laugh in the middle of the workday because I sent you a silly text. Be the reason you want to go to weddings, and family gathers, and class reunions, and fundraisers, and work parties because you know I’ll be standing by your side.

Be the reason you’re happy, and this life doesn’t seem so bad.

I want to be the reason you love life. The reason this world became a little brighter. The reason you don’t feel like giving up anymore.

I know I can’t save you or fix you or solve all your problems, but when I come into your life, I just want to give it a little light. I just want to bring a smile to that tired face. I just want to help you see how wonderful you are, and how lucky you’ve made me.

I just want to make you happy, all the days of your life. Because I’m so happy being loved by you.

And if I could make your life a little better, a little more worth it, a little more beautiful, just by being yours—that would be the greatest honor in the world.