Dear Jeffrey,
I am writing another love letter after a long time to tell you that I was patient today to actually not mind my running nose while thinking about what to say to you on your special day.
The last six years of being together was a colorful adventure. I lost track — and I do not have the willpower to remember them — about the many addresses we wrote in forms as we moved around the Philippines, China and the US.
We were nomads and we still are although we both know that the two-year mark has passed and soon enough, we will be packing our bags for the next big journey. The exact date, I do not know. We both don’t know the answer but I am sure you can feel it. I can even smell it… like the many times you make homemade spaghetti sauce for six hours and the entire house smells like an Italian delicatessen.
I have had both the curse and the privilege to uproot my life several times in the course of this six-year relationship. Not everything was smooth sailing. You saw me in my ugliest, most desperate, most destructive state. It could have been so easy to let go. But you held on more than I did.
Your example showed me that love endures and love lasts. You taught me to be patien and kind. You find beauty in my depressed state. You chose to embrace me with love when I hurled with nothing but hurtful words. You stayed and never left — and that is who you are.
My beacon of hope.
My source of strength.
My constant.
I know there are times when you feel that you are inadequate. There are times when you second guess your worth. I am here, writing this to you now that you are enough. You are the answer to my prayers and Heavenly Father knew exactly what to do when that one night I cried for you. He orchestrated that smile online, that meeting at The Peak, the proposal in Golden Prince, the simple wedding, the pregnant news, the birth of our children…
You fill my heart with so much happiness that I can never thank the Lord enough for the gift of you. To this day, you remain to be my biggest blessing. You came in the most unexpected time. My world literally turned upside down on your arrival. But you made me understand the essence of commitment and loyalty. You taught me so much about love. I can never thank you enough.
I remember during the first few weeks when you started courting me to be your wife, I kept telling you that our age gap (more than 20 years) is a major issue for me to go all-in in this relationship. I remember my morbid arguments and your witty comebacks. You told me to love you now and let us see how far we can go with this with the love that we have for each other. I was so scared, I still am, but I take comfort in the same love that you showered me since the day you told me that my smile brightens your day.
You remain as my favorite hasty decision Jeffrey. Thank you for convincing me to love you in the now because I got to experience the wonderful person that you are. That does not mean that I love you all the time. You know there are parts of you that I detest (ha!). But you pretty much taught me to look beyond human errors and see people for their worth in the eyes of God. I became a better person ever since I met you.
On your birthday, I pray for good health. That you will stick to your healthy diet and lifestyle. That you can walk more kilometers and meet more friends along the way. That you will write more movie reviews and cooks more pots full of homemade spaghetti sauce and meatballs. That you will continue to be a role model of a gentleman to our sons and an example of a great man to our daughter. That you will write another Olympic book. That you will have your next big work adventure.
I love you Jeffrey.
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Your Wife9ĺm
