Love is a funny creature
Over time it
Morphs
Changes
Until you find
It must have been this way
All along

Three years old
Love was tucked in sheets
And pillows that smell of Momma's hair

Eight years old
Love was the grip of locked pinkies
And hushed giggles

Eleven years old
Love was the flutter in my stomach
And the sweat on my palms

Fourteen years old
Love was the foreign feel of his lips
Chapped and uncertain

Heart break follows
Small fissures in my heart
This was the first time I begin to see
How the world works
And the true meaning of deceit

Sixteen years old
Love is the beat of his heart
As he sleeps
The sweet sigh of my name
And the endless fall into each other’s eyes
Love is just the beginning
A promise
Around my finger
For a happily ever after
Love is a dance
Clumsy, learning
Moving to the rhythm
Of life
Love is beating all the odds
Distance
Time
None of it matters
It is still very new
And still growing

One day
Love will be
Nights spent wrapped in a lovers embrace
The coo of a newborn  
Early mornings
And soccer practice
Love will be
Bedtime stories
Russian lullabies
The Lord's Prayer  
And Irish ballads sung at bed side
Love will be
The hum of a toddler’s finger
Tapping the key of a piano
And the laugh of his sister
Who hangs on her mother’s apron
Love will be
Meeting 'the one'
And deciding he will never be good enough for her
Love will be
Worry as the key turns in the ignition for the first time
Prom dresses
And broken curfews
Love will be
Seeing him walk in his father’s foot steps
Watching her walk down the aisle
Watching their families grow
Love will be
Rocking chairs facing the rising sun
Brittle fingers still twined
And weary bodies swaying
Love will be
Standing tall
Before the golden gates
And together
Embracing eternity