In the woods, I stood and ran.
Watched and blinked, watched again and everything
Changed.
I ran through every twisted maze of vines and stones
Protruding from the ground and the air around me,
As if I was in a dream.

I thought back to everything:
The first night, the first awkward hug, the first nervous kiss.
The way we moved and touched, the times we got lost in
Conversations or arguments, the times I refused to dance
And the times when you refused to tell me
What was bothering you.
I remembered the unspeakables and the times when we played
Like innocent children in an adult way.

I remembered every detail, every thing you had ever said to me
Like it was carved into stone.

And I began to miss you.

I looked through a clearing of wildflowers
And I imagined a cabin, just big enough for the two of us and our children.
the little ones running free by the waterfalls and through the wildflowers
While I sit and write on the porch, your head in my lap.

So quiet. So serene.

I dreamed of nights when the children are away at their grandparents'
and we had the house to ourselves, dimly lit,
And the faint sound of screaming to the guitars and drums it matches.
We are still the same as we are now, but responsible,
Older.

It was because of those fantasies that I realized how much
I loved you. How much I do love you and always will.
Even though it doesn't seem like it,
I love the way you look at me. I love when you tell me I'm beautiful.
I love when you hug me when I am upset,
But infuriates me that I can not stay angry at you.
I love the shimmer in your eyes when you sit and stare,
And the way your pupils dilate when you come closer to me.
I love how rough you are because you know I wont break,
And I adore how gentle you can be.

And as I was reading today, I realized
Why you appeal to me as much as you do.
You are not the type that most girls look for, though you should be.
You appeal to me because of everything I love about you,
And everything I love about you makes you
The living, breathing version of the man in my books.

You are the hero that saved me,
cracked open the shell over my soul and poured out the remnants of
The whole smile I once had.
You made something of it.
You made something of me when I thought I'd have nothing left.

After everything I have seen and experienced with you by my side,
I still have so much to learn.
I have so much to discover, And most of that is
Trying to realize how far my love for you will go.

After everything, this still feels like new.
The innocence and the questions. It's no mystery,
But it is foreign enough to be my home,
The place where I am supposed to be.