open love letter to my man (because somewhere he roams)

First, let me say that I love you. I don’t know you, but I love you. You are amazing.

You show me what love is in ways I’ve never understood before. You shelter me. You let me care for you because you care for me. You guide and encourage me. You listen to me. You make me laugh and laugh with me everyday. You take my advice. You explore the world with me.

You are with me through the hardest times in my life. You cry with me. You know that I don’t need words then. You just look at me or touch me or hold me and know that I don’t need you to fix it, that words are not important now. You know that all I need is what you carry with you everyday, just you.

You let me hold you when you cannot stand. You cry to me. You tell me things that expose you so openly. You let me love you. And I do, brilliantly.

You ask me to marry you with no fanfare, no trumpets blazing, just us, quietly together in a familiar place. You say you simply want to know what the rest of life is like with me in every picture, at every holiday dinner, on every family vacation, and every morning.

You wear the scarves I knit for you if only to family functions because men don’t really wear handmade scarves. You love my cooking even when it’s terrible. When we argue, you make sure that no one wins, that we sometimes agree to disagree. You let me buy shoes and purses when I don’t need them. Sometimes, you buy them for me.

You are there when our children arrive whether through us or through adoption. You are there in the hospital room or a foreign orphanage and you cradle our children and say “You are mine too.” You love. You love them like you have never known love. You worry and are proud and praise and guide them. You are wise and kind to them. They love you because you let them grow and you let them go. They come back to you.

After 40 years you still call me your bride because you are so happy you married me. You cannot believe the love we started with went even deeper. And you will always be my husband. You are not my everything, you are my only thing. You are what I need in my life when I need it. You are the constant, the unconditional, the strong, the vulnerable, the passionate, the inquisitive, the restless, the hungry, the stable, the receiver and the giver.

You are honest and kind and I cannot believe I found you. You, I love.