in one year
i want you to take me to the junior prom
i want the pictures and the four hundred dollar dress
i want you to hold me close, dance with aplomb
i want you to think to yourself, "thank god she said yes."

in two years
i want to run into your arms wearing a blue cap and gown
clutching your shoulders and whispering, "we made it," with a grin
in september, when school is beginning, please just stay in town
and before school starts again, take me places i've never been?

in four years
i want you to fall asleep with your head in my lap
on the couch of our small but cozy apartment
breathing slow breaths; in soft, warm blankets we'd be wrapped
you nestled to my breast; i'll make that three word statement.

in nine years
i want to watch you achieve your dreams and remember
that you played on the tiny freshman field at the high school
sitting in the stands, i'll wish to watch you forever
and try with all my might to remember that the world is cruel.

in ten years
i want to stand in front of everyone important to me
and declare that i love you and that i will stand by you,
for thirteen long years, your wife, a bennett, i longed to be.
i'll read my many vows to you and begin to cry on cue.

in fourteen years
in a hospital, i want to hold our brand new baby girl
i want you to whisper that she's perfect and kiss my forehead.
even when she's so new, we'll see the beginnings of curls
and, together softly, imagine all that lies ahead

there is so much more i could say to you
about how i imagine our life and how i love you, too.
but here i am, squinting at my computer screen
and planning my whole life at the age of fifteen.

i love you more than words can say.
hopefully these words i've written did okay.
happy two years together-- today.