Birthday
This is your day
but I find myself unwrapping gifts too.
Gifts of laughter folded into morning light,
of quiet moments where your arms
became the only place I feel truly rested.
How do I begin to thank the soul
who stitched safety into my world
with nothing but a look,
a hand held just right,
a love I didn’t know I could have
until I met you?
You...
the calm in my storm,
the stillness that steadies
this heart that used to race from fear,
but now runs only toward you.
There is something in the way you love me,
gentle, unwavering,
like you always knew I was coming,
like you saved a place
before you even knew my name.
And now, here we are,
your first birthday with me by your side.
But if time is kind,
if fate keeps being this good to us,
it will be the first of many.
Of all.
Of every cake, every candle,
every soft midnight wish
you’ll ever make again.
Because when I close my eyes
and dare to dream a little bigger,
you’re there.
Not just standing beside me,
but in everything.
In every home I imagine,
in every morning routine,
in every messy kitchen and sleepy Sunday.
You’re in the holidays, the hardships,
the road trips and the silences.
You’re in future children’s laughter,
the backyard fires,
the wrinkles we’ll earn
laughing into the decades.
You are my forever place.
And I want to spend a lifetime
trying to give back even a fraction
of what you’ve given me:
security without strings,
love without limits,
a partnership that feels
like coming home.
So today, I celebrate you:
your laughter,
your strength,
your quiet tenderness
that reshaped the way I love.
Happy birthday, my heart.
Thank you for letting me be here for this one
and, if I’m lucky,
for all the ones still to come.