She’s a Beauty…

I have no idea how I deserve to be with someone like this. She agreed to marry me twenty-two years ago tomorrow (she must be a bit touched in the head to agree to that). We met twenty-five adventure-filled, sometimes chaotic, sometimes painful, always entertaining, and beautiful years ago.

She has been the other part of the parts of me that I didn’t know I needed (or even that I knew I had in most cases).

She has been an inspiration to me to be a better man.

She has been my guide and my reason to enjoy this life to its fullest.

She has been oh so patient with me.

She has been the foundation of my moments for so long now.

There have been a million moments…

A million times she has proven to me, over and over, that she is a creature of kindness, compassion and grace, while somehow being incredibly powerful. She is the person that I will always try to emulate in my attempts to become a better person, and she is the best person I could ever know.

Which makes me the luckiest guy alive.

We started out a long time ago…

The places we have seen, even around home, have always been the grandest adventures.

And, very early on, she helped me to realize how much I love to travel.

Our travels always seem to involve some sort of strange transportation.

Some stranger than others.

And all the amazing places we have traveled together away from home. She always encourages me to be more adventurous, to be the better, braver version of myself.

Not to mention the places we have lived.

She can be such a nerd. Without abandon. It is one of the things I most admire her for (and I am constantly envious of, as well). And she has taught me how it is okay to be a nerd. I am ever grateful to her for these moments of lightness and happiness. In this, she has taught me a better way to live.

She has taught me how to play…

And to stop taking my shit so seriously.

And life is just so much better this way. Our adventures have stories, and our memories have happiness. I am a better man for her showing me a life more lighthearted.

And, she radiates…

She is just beautiful. It is just an easy, natural beauty that comes without a fuss, that radiates from somewhere inside her, in that place that holds her childlike love for life and adventure.

She can be beautiful anywhere, in any place. I don’t know how she does it, but she leaves me constantly grateful for her.

I wake in the morning every day, and I reach across the bed for her, to be sure that I am still the luckiest person alive.

She has loved me, supported me, forgiven me, encouraged me, inspired me, taught me, bettered me, and allowed me to grow into the person I am today, all without judgement or expectation, simply out of love.

We have traveled, adventured, worked, lazed, played, and experienced tragedy and happiness together. We are now living a new chapter, a new adventure, together, and I can’t imagine living this life with anyone else. Nobody else could ever be the Pooh to my Piglet, or the Princess Buttercup to my Dread Pirate Roberts. Nobody else could ever be the parts of me that I never knew I was missing.

I am the luckiest guy.

To be continued…