What you do...

This morning, on the ride home, you thanked me for doing some thing or another, and said that you don’t really know what it is that you do for me. I initially worried that I wasn’t expressing my gratitude properly, because I am constantly and consistently grateful for you and your love, my dear heart. But then I realized that it was likely less because of me than because you don’t realize just how special you are. I thought perhaps I could share some of those reasons here, so you can always go back and find them. Before I begin, I do want to say, though, that the reason I love you has little to do with the things you do for me. I love you because of who you are, and because you deserve all the love in the world, my sweet girl. Please never forget that your worth is never dependent upon what you do for others. Now, let’s see…

You see me true. You see the man I am now more clearly than anyone ever has, love with grace the man I have been, whether in triumph or foolishness, and show me always a vision of a man I want to be. You make me want to strive to always grow and be better, while also somehow never letting me doubt that I am loved just as I am. 

You listen to me, to my stories, to my jokes (even the really bad ones), my sorrows and my joys, and you approach it all with the same careful kindness and boundless curiosity, regardless of how small or large they are. And you trust me to share everything, even the hard things. You are vulnerable and gentle, which helps me to be so.

You attend to my needs joyfully. You are my legs when mine don’t quite work, and my hands when mine can’t manage, just as I am your words when you can’t find them, and your eyes when you need to see the long view. You offer me insight and perspectives that I miss, and see angles I can’t. All of that makes us an exceptional team. We can conquer anything. Tillsammans.

You enliven my world with love, laughter, romance, adventure, and an unwavering certainty that holds me in place, even in the darkest nights of my soul. You challenge me, support me, believe in me, and hold my heart safe. You keep me dreaming, and doing. You lift my spirits with your smile, and make me feel wanted in ways I’ve never felt before. You are patient with me when I struggle. You let me help you, come to me and ask when you need, whether it’s something as important as helping to write a letter, or as simple as opening a stuck jar. I feel useful, but never used, because you let me know just how much you value what I do for you, as I hope I do you.

I could keep going, my baby. I could write a thousand pages of things you do for me, but it all boils down to this: you love me, fiercely, truly, and beautifully. The love we have grown, and will keep growing, always, in the light of that is something I want to spend the rest of my life tending with you. I love you, with all my heart and soul, my sweet girl, now and always.