I hope you fall in love.

I hope you fall deeply, madly and wonderfully, and hopelessly in love. But I hope you don’t rush it, either. I hope you don’t try to make it move faster than it should.

I hope you take your time on the journey towards your everlasting love.

I hope you carve out minutes of your day to uncover and discover the beautiful things about your beloved that you cannot see with the naked eye. I hope you find out what makes them laugh, and then I hope you fall in love more deeply with every giggle of their laughter. I hope you know what their silence sounds like, too. I hope you find out what their favorite ice cream flavor is, and what how they take their coffee, and if they prefer eggs or cereal in the morning. I hope you pay attention to the tiny details that make up a heart and a soul – and when you find out what those details are, I hope you see how everything in life will remind you of your beloved.

Take the time to know how they sleep – if they steal the covers or if they share, if they are a morning person or a night owl, or if they prefer a sheet or a comforter or both.

Take the time to know how they respond to their family and their friends. Are they the type of person who will pick you up from an airport, no matter what time it is? Are they the type of human that will show up to a wake or a funeral without being asked? If you’re having a bad day, are they able to say or do the thing that will make you feel seen? And heard? And most importantly, loved?

Don’t settle for a love at first sight; find a love that takes time.

Find a love that burns slow and bright, like the glow of a campfire and the rays of the sun.

Find a love that goes beyond an initial attraction – the kind of love that will be there when muscles aren’t so clearly defined, and hair turns grey, and the softness of age decides to stay.

Find a love that will grow as you do, a love that will sparkle with each wrinkle, and deepen with understanding, and flourish as you both bloom with love for one another.