My partner and I have been together for 16 years.

Sixteen years of love, laughter, squabbles, make-ups, life.

We both grew up in extremely rigid, controlling, religious households. We were not allowed to date or communicate before marriage. On this shaky platform, and blind faith in our gut feeling that we were, somehow, meant to be together, our relationship started.

During our time together we have navigated through much turbulence including losing our first daughter at two days old, adding three more beautiful, vibrant souls to our home, and leaving religion for the spiritual realm.

Through it all, our belief that we belong together has not changed. We have battled through many dark nights, voyaging the waters from codependency to personal sovereignty.

On our recent anniversary, we had a ceremony, dissolving our original vows and writing a new story. Vows and commitments fitting for the people we are now. Today.

We’ve come a long way from those starstruck teens, and we aren’t remotely the same people we were all those years ago.

So here’s to new beginnings and slates wiped clean. May we navigate these virgin waters with grace and empathy and all the love our hearts can hold.

This is a poem I wrote to my beloved in honor of this occasion. May it warm your heart and create a spark of possibility within.

I want love

I want laughter

I want connection

I want commitment

I want intimacy

I want adventure

I want to grow old exploring the wonder of this big, beautiful world with you

I want a love as vast as the oceans

As fresh as the breeze

As steadfast as the ground

As passionate as the fire

I want to be consumed by you

To fall into your arms, your heart, your body, as the world melts away and we ride galaxies and cosmos together

I’m done with half-truths, half-hearts, half anything

I want the whole, part and parcel

The good and the bad

The pretty and the ugly

I want to know you, the real, naked, raw, authentic you

And I want to be known by you

Every bit

Life is too short, too precious, to spend mincing around on eggshells

Give me all of you

All of your beautiful, passionate self

Let me get lost in the wonder of what makes you, you

Let’s battle giants together

Ride a dragon’s back

Journey to the edge of infinity and beyond

Let’s see what magic happens when we throw caution to the wind and really start to love in every sense of the word

When we realize that the truest, greatest gift we can give each other is authenticity and vulnerability

When we finally dare to take the risk of being truly seen

Met by a love that spans oceans and galaxies

A love that melts years of pain and heartbreak

A love for the ages; the kind poets write about

True, heartfelt, abiding love

My love

I promise to see you

To seek to understand you

To pursue you

And to cherish you

I love you

Let’s set the world ablaze with this love

~