To The Love of My Life:

Still unsure of how I snagged you 7 years and 5 months ago but I thank God everyday for letting me do whatever it was that I did to allow me to snag you.  A mere 5 months after our “first date & kiss” we were married.  I came into your life as a broken hearted single mother.  You would have had every right to think to yourself ” I can’t get into this, this lady has too much baggage”.  Not talking about the having a child but rather the past, that you had to deal with for so long even into the first few years of our marriage.

Instead of me dealing with the heartbreak and people from my past before we married, we married and I dealt with them all during our marriage which was not fair to you.  I put you through more in our first 2 years of marriage than a lot of married couples ever have to go through.  Things were said, actions were done that assure me in every way I don’t deserve you but for some reason despite everything you stayed.

Then one day my eyes were opened and instead of pushing you away as I had been, I realized “He really does love me”.  He isn’t like the others, the ones who were there just when it was convenient but he is here because he loves me. Not only me but my son, you were a father to him from the moment you first met him and you didn’t have to be.

Every moment that passes I love you more and more.  As time passed not only did we add to our family by bringing another son and a daughter into our lives, you “officially” became my sons father adopting him.  Not that I ever needed the “official” part, you were always the father he was meant to have.  I have watched you grow as a man, husband and father.  Every day I look at you and you take my breath away (even if I don’t always act like it or say it).

You have truly taught me what love is.  I have told others I loved them before and heard the words back but looking back there was no love, feelings yes but I never knew love until you came into my life.  With others there were conditions, with you it’s been unconditional.  If you didn’t love me I know you would not have stayed through some of the things I put you through.  For that I thank you, I thank you for loving me despite the wrongs I have done, the words I may have spoken to you that hurt you.  I thank you for loving me for me and for making me a better person.

I know I am not always the easiest to put up with and sometimes I let my prima donna come out.  I know I am not perfect and yet you love me still.  I can’t begin to even put into words just how special you make me feel.  Whether it is seeing the love in your eyes for me or just the way you hold me when I am upset.  How you let me escape when you can see I am “wiggin out” to save at least a part of my sanity.  I love you not only for who you are but for who you help me to be.

7 years and we have made it through things that some couples never have to go through, if we made it through those things the rest of our lives will be a breeze.  If I could do it all over again I would choose you again and again and again.  I am comfortable with you, I am comfortable being myself with you.  I love that nothing is too silly or embarrassing to talk about.   I love that you have an awesome family, I don’t think I could have gotten any luckier in the in law department.

We have shared so many memories, sadness, happiness, laughter, hard times and I know there are much more of each of those to come.  But I also know that I want you there by my side through each and every one of the memories for the rest of my life.  Now a little diddy from the night we married, our first dance song that really does say it all:

From the first moment on, I love you babe!  Happy Anniversary!

Yours Eternally,

Toni