"In this garden of dreams, you are my most cherished bloom..."
My Beloved Anna,
As the morning light filters through our window, catching the golden flecks in your hair, I find myself once again lost in thoughts of you. How strange and wonderful that after all these years, my heart still races when you walk into the room.
Do you remember our first spring together? When we walked beneath the cherry blossoms in that little park downtown, and you laughed as the petals caught in my hair? I told you then they were falling just for us, nature's blessing on what we had only begun to build. I believed it then with the innocent certainty of new love. Now, with the wisdom of time, I know it even more deeply to be true.
You have seen me at my weakest and my strongest. You've held my hand through grief so profound I thought I might never breathe normally again. You've celebrated my victories as if they were your own – sometimes I think you've believed in me more than I believed in myself.
I watch you sleep sometimes, your face relaxed and peaceful, and I am overwhelmed by this life we've created together. The home that smells of your favorite tea and the books we've read to each other. The garden you've nurtured with such patience. The way our histories have intertwined until I can hardly remember which memories are mine alone.
Tonight, as we celebrate another year of this beautiful journey, I want you to know that my love for you is not the fleeting passion of youth, but something that has grown roots so deep, so intricate and strong that it has become the very foundation of who I am.
For every moment you've chosen me, for every time you've forgiven my failings, for the children we've raised and the dreams we've chased – thank you. A thousand times, thank you.
I love you today more than yesterday, less than tomorrow. Always and completely.
Forever yours,
James