At our age...

It often makes me smile to think that, to read these letters at times, one would think we were children, just starting to make our way in the world, lovelorn and wistful for one another. While we are, admittedly, a number of those things, being romantics too often, albeit temporarily, separated by miles and circumstance, and we are, in fact, building a new life together, we certainly aren’t children anymore. While we’ve still got a good bit of life ahead of us, we’re very firmly adults, if ones who still see the value in things like wonder and curiosity, and that comes with some interesting additions to our story.

While we’re much more stable, in every sense of the word, than we were way back when we first stepped out into the world, we also come with a lot of the living, memory, and trauma that are the necessary side effects of aging with any semblance of wisdom. We carry our scars and, in many cases, our still-open wounds, into this. Thankfully, we also carry into it the patience, kindness, and genuine gratitude that comes along with having suffered well, and having learned from that suffering. 

Our words and touch are gentler, the things that we choose to give one another, because we now know both their value and their price, are more meaningful, and the certainty of our choices comes not from youthful bravado, but from hard-won experience and deep thoughtfulness. When asked why I can be so sure about you, and us, those are my answers; I have been through so much in my life that has hurt me, I know now to find and hold fast to what heals my heart and soul, and you do. I love you, my sweet girl, and I want to spend the rest of my life learning and healing with you, and letting you learn and heal with me.