Dear Ben, I am speechless and full of an endless stream of thought all at one time.
10 years ago, I promised to…for the rest of my life…make you laugh until you cry, care for you when you are broken and ill, be your anchor when life feels like it’s ripping at the seams, devote myself to raising a family with you, challenge you to be better than you even know how to be, be honest and clear with you about how I’m feeling, never keep tallies, and trust that you are doing your best and what you truly think is the right thing to do.
I promised to care more about you, than I care about me…because that is how we understand what it means to love someone.
Yes, I promised all of those things to you then. But, I don’t know that I really had faith in myself that I could do all fo that…and, be all of that…for another person in this world. I believed I was too selfish. That that was just who I was, and you happened to be okay with it. I don’t know that I trusted in the concept of any of it. I don’t know that I trusted in love.
I don’t know how good of a job I’m doing at any of this, but I know that you make me want to be all of these things for you more now than ever before.
Every day that passes, I somehow wake up loving you more than I did when I laid down beside you the night before.
Thank you, Ben Bergeron, for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. And, thank you for showing me what unconditional love is all about.
Happy Anniversary, my love. I promise all of this all over again…for the rest of my life…but, this time I actually believe in myself and my ability to give you the love that you have proven to me is not just a thing of dreams.