Hello, my darling.
After your first year in your third decade, how are you holding up?
You know, the Berlin Wall didn’t make it to it’s fourth decade.  Almost, but not quite.
That’s a thought, eh?
A monument meant to separate and contain for the rest of eternity fell before it was 30.
How will you, an entity just as singular as that wall, withstand?
Your odds aren’t very good.
But, then again, Reagan doesn’t have much sway over you, you’ll survive.

When you drink a glass wine to mark the passing of another year, take a sip for me.
Let the red wet your lips and pretend the thick taste is me.
Swallow hard as it slides down your throat and fall in love with me all over again.

It’s your day and the best part is that it lasts 29 hours because I’m five time zones away from your drizzling island in the east.
When I wait for you in the airport terminal one month and two days from now, I shall check the schedule fifteen times in the ten minutes I wait, gaze fixed on your flight number and "arriving on time" beside it.
I will watch “Love Actually” for the fifteenth time this month the evening before to prepare myself for the impending reunion and the waves of fulfilment that will shake my knees when I feel your heart beat beneath my hand again.

But for now, my love, drink up and make merry with your family.
One day, I will join them and trade my four seasons for rain and a warm drink with you in our own flat where photographs from our adventures sit, well-placed on shelves, windowsills, and countertops..
But for now, celebrate your life and remember the way my kisses feel when you’ve just woken up after a night of being held against me.