1. I hope you know that love is for you—even if you haven’t found it yet, even if you think you’re going to be alone for the rest of your life. Even if you’re not sure if you are worthy and deserving of love, there is a love that is meant and perfect for you.

2. Love is something that should never hurt. It should never break your bones or bruise your spirit. It should not make you feel small, or less than, or as if your heart and your zeal for life are “too much.” Love is something that heals.

3. I hope you know that love is always a choice. Love is something you choose—you choose the human you want to give your heart to, you choose the decision to stand by them forever. You choose to wake up every morning and pour love into the relationship that the two of you have built and continue to cultivate.

4. Love is something to be treasured, for it is a gift; it is a gift to be able to share your life with someone. It is a gift to be able to know the innermost parts of someone’s soul. It is a gift to have someone see your shadows and your light and love you still. It is a gift to learn beside someone—to grow with them, and walk with them, and be with them for marvelous moments and tiny victories. Please do not squander that gift.

5. Love is something that should make you feel untangled. It’s something that should make your insides feel at ease, as if you were made of marshmallows and honey. As if you were somehow walking on light breams.

6. Love is having a patience you never knew you possessed. It’s finding your footing with another human. It’s figuring out how to coexist in one space—physically and emotionally. It’s learning how to share a bathroom and learning how to share what’s on your mind. It’s figuring out what to eat for dinner and figuring out when your beloved needs some time with their friends. It’s the greatest balancing act of them all.

7. I hope you know that love is something that grows. It grows like the sunshine spilling into your windows in the morning, like the feeling you get within your heart on Christmas morning, like the way the flowers always bloom in spring. It will grow beyond the joy you have on your wedding day, beyond the fancy moments that you capture with a camera. It grows within the quiet scenes of life—a bad day at work, a Saturday morning on the couch, and a walk together around the neighborhood. Love takes root within your heart and keeps growing with each passing minute.