Letter to You on Our 20th Valentine's Day Together

I did not go to the ends of the earth to find you, I went there for me.

But when I arrived at the spine of the Pacific, to an island forged of ice and fire, there you were.

Among the gold and silver of endless scales in frigid waters, an unexpected treasure.

If you had asked me before that moment, I would have said I was not ready. I was dreaming grand dreams and finally following through.

You were still rediscovering a life recently, suddenly, undone.

Yet a pair of moments, entwined, unraveled best-laid plans to braid a different future.

For you, it was a glance, you said. My face a familiar childhood memory newly unearthed.

It was a touch for me, a scent instinct, a feeling that you would be my island of safety among this group of strangers.

Years would pass from here, with them a hiatus from adventure as homes and children and four-legged sentinels joined our pack.

After has been a treasure trove of perfect moments, nestled against times of grief and growth and sacrifice, shining ever brighter for it.

Lighting this messy, wonderful, string of paired adventures, a perfect first moment hangs crystallized, suspended.

It is a moon that reflects an ever-growing timeline of love, guiding our ebbs and flows like the tide, always drawing us back.

At its core gleams an instant of perfect trust where for no reason we could yet know, two strangers gave impossible a chance.

It grows bigger with every moment, in gratitude, that we realize we were right.