If her smile were a disease,
I'd gladly infect myself.

Wife,
        That’s a term I have been waiting to use for my entire life. I wasn’t always the best at searching for you. I was young and mildly ambitious growing up; other things got in the way because I never knew how much I could love you.
        If only I had known.
        I’ve told you most of my stories: my days playing sports, the endless reading list I had at my bedside table, and the sleepless nights thinking I would never find you.
        I’m eternally grateful that God allowed our paths to cross at that bookstore – how ironic that I was looking for books about love and I found you.
        My life taught me to question and second-guess many things: marriage, relationships, and the future.
        I had let my doubts and expectations reach into my pockets of hope and faith, stealing my motivation to succeed.
        Some would say I was justified in being a stoic.
        Not you.
        Before I met you, I was full of silly ideas and visions of how the world was. Those things – doubt, disappointment, failure – may be in the world, but they don’t define the world.
        Or me.
       I’m glad I questioned what was shinning so bright in a dimly lit bookstore. I’m glad I saw you.
        Holding a flashlight.

Always,
Yours

If you asked nicely
My shoes would whisper
Stories of the horizons you
Have yet to meet

Another year will take my hand
Last year left me
Long before December cold
Arctic soul in summertime
2014 is God’s gift to humanity
We weren’t supposed to survive
Past two years ago
We waste away in our victors time
Complacency robs your family
Of love, affection, compliments
And life
On gifted time from the divine
Don’t resolve to do this or that
"Work out three times a week"
"Stop drinking soda"
"Brush my teeth one more time a day"
Do not wait to make your change
Set your life correct today
In the modern society
The right is replaced with the easy
The easy job, the easy life
Step back and look with eyes
Blurred by tears of future regret
That easy never won
A single thing except for
******* misery
Be a hero, it’s in your bones
To save a life, even your own

If I could be your world, I would let your travel all over me.
We could visit galaxies, or simply look at stars.
If you could be my creature, I would fill your needs.
You would rule the world, and all my sights to see.
I'll bring you air, the sun and skies - to see a little clearer.
And an off-white moon to see your smile shine.
If I could be your world, I would be your everything.

It was like looking at the sun
Not that she was abnormally bright
Or beautiful
She was gorgeous like so many others
but she was different like none
I had seen before
Her eyes told me how strong she was
She knew pain and heartbreak
Embraced by galaxies and milky ways
Swirling on cloud of cream
In her morning coffee
Her nose told stories of adventure
She knew the rush of wind too fast
Hurricanes in beating hearts
Faster, stronger, higher
Than cloud nine where she stored her smile
I read poetry in her hair
Left undone with such care
Flannel sheets at Christmas time
Seeing her is all I need
It was not like looking at the sun
She was brilliant like twinkling lights
Only I could see
As the world looked mindlessly
Beyond

It’s okay to be alone
To stand on your own

Even when standing means
kneeling with arms throwing
prayers to God
Even when standing means sitting
and looking through memories
in photographs
Even when standing means crying
making yourself lighter in the tears
floating away
Even when standing means stepping
and putting one foot in front
to brace your desire of
moving on

It’s okay to be together
With hands held tight

Except when hands are swords
thrown more carelessly
than insulting words
Except when hands are lies
beckoning false hope to set up
camp in broken homes
Except when hands are eyes
pulled away by naked screens
crushing bones and hearts
Except when hands are pocketed
because being together
isn’t all it’s cracked up to be

It's okay to be brave.