The You That Walked In

The You that walked in was not perfect.

You were cute—

Hair cut, confident stride;

You arrived in plenty of time for the meeting, and your smile put butterflies in my stomach.

But

The You that walked in was not perfect.

True, you were kind.

From the first conversation,

You had gentle words and a benevolent gaze.

But

The You that walked in was not perfect.

I dropped a lot of hints;

Left my hand out obviously

Where you could so easily have grabbed it, though you didn’t.

But

The You that walked in was not perfect.

I had to bite back the words,

“You can kiss me if you want to.”

And while that was sweet, I was glad when the kiss finally came.

But

The You that walked in was not perfect.

When you proposed

There was no photographer

Even though I’d flat-out said that I wanted the moment captured.

And

The You that walked in was not perfect.

You were so buried

Under school and two jobs

That I ended up planning the whole wedding by myself.

And

The You that walked in was not perfect.

After the wedding

We looked at our accounts

And it was so pathetic how poor we really were.

And

The You that walked in was not perfect.

When our first daughter was tiny

You sometimes had to leave the room

Just to keep from becoming angry at the helpless little baby.

And

The You that walked in was not perfect.

You snapped sometimes;

Got mad at me,

Which I did not handle well, at all, in any sense of the word.

And

The You that walked in was not perfect.

You yelled at video game characters

And football players

Until I dreaded seeing the tv turn on.

And

The You that walked in was not perfect.

Each successive child,

Each move,

Every milestone in our lives together has had its hiccups.

But,

The You that walked in is not the You You are now.

You have grown,

And taught me,

And loved me as close to unconditionally as I can imagine a person doing.

And

The You that walks in every day is not perfect.

I know this.

I know I am not perfect, either.

We are growing together, working on ourselves, our marriage, each other.

And

The You that walks in every day is not perfect.

Which is good

Because if you were,

What kind of wife could I possibly be to you?

And

The You that walks in every day is not perfect

And I hope

That you never are,

At least in this mortal life on earth we are living.

And

The You that walks in every day is not perfect.

But I look forward happily,

Joyfully,

Toward the rest of our lives, even if I know it will not ever be “perfect.”

Because

The You that walked in was not perfect.

The You that walks in every day isn’t either.

The You that will walk in tomorrow won’t be.

But

The You that walks in every day

Is the You I need

On that day.

And I would be even more imperfect without you in my life.

And

The You that walks in every day is not perfect.

But he is perfect

For me

Because we share our imperfections,

And

I love you endlessly for being the You that walks in,

The You that walked in,

The You that will walk in,

Because in all of these moments, every time you walk in,

You choose me.