Letter To You, My Love

Image: Copilot

You’re beautiful and I think you’re really beautiful.

I’ve seen you in different lights, at different times, of different shades and I think you shine bright always. Even your dark days bring light.

I’ve seen you wear long braids, seen you wear short hair, seen you fix your nails, seen your nails in their natural state and in each phase, you still nail it. You’re beautiful, really beautiful. Your eyeballs are like neon lights. They make nights feel special and make days feel seen, and that’s just physical. While it matters so much, it’s not the greatest reason I love you.

I love you because you’re resilient. You’re sturdy. You’re soft in a hard way. You are expressive. Even during the times you don’t talk, your soul speaks. Your expressions are so natural that you can’t fake them. When you’re happy, it’s easy to know, when you’re sad, even the blind can see it. You wear your heart on your face. Your spirit is clean. You are intuitive. You always see it coming. Like I always tell you, you’re a woman in every sense of the word. But only a few have your grace. You are a fierce protector, and you’re tough when you should be.

That your cheeky smile that exposes your gap-tooth or your playful scorn when you wear your eyelashes are two very beautiful things you do. I wish that was all until I saw you battle times and came out clean.

I’ve always believed women are tougher than men. It’s nothing about strong muscles but everything about a tough spirit. Again, you’re resilient. You deal with pain like it’s nothing. You never show it, you hardly say it, you just deal with it until it’s gone. I wish that was all, then I saw you again hold your mother and mine tightly when nobody but you could have. You knitted crashing worlds together and you looked infectiously beautiful through it. You stood strong in the absence of a bunch of men, and you did it with grace and utter calmness. You showed us greatness.

I will not pretend there are days you don’t get on my nerves. There are. But I love you through those days too. Intensely.

Sometimes I think you don’t understand me. Sometimes I think you need to be more patient with me because we are very different people who sometimes think the same way. Our characters are different, and sometimes I think you can be impatient with how I prefer to deal with issues. Sometimes I think you need to know that my life and where I’m coming from makes me a hopeless optimist (such irony). My optimism is never in question, yet I’m a realist. I’m not naive. But I have no choice than to be optimistic because I came from those stories and look at where I am.

I’ll like you to know that it’s not everytime I give you what you don’t ask for that I have it. But sometimes, I want you to know that I believe in sharing with you all the time. With you, I hardly think. Materials mean absolutely nothing to me and that’s never going to change. I try to do my best to everybody I genuinely love, and especially to you because you’re my home and the most important piece of my future. Because I choose you.

You’re battle-hardened, strong-shelled, and tough-spirited but I want you to know that sometimes, it’s important to let your guards down. Relaxxxxx! You can’t be everywhere, and you can’t do everything at the same time. Sometimes I want you to know there are things you should not say, not because you can’t but because words are not just words, everything heard is morphed into a line of experience and that’s how words are interpreted to anyone who listens. This means it’s important to understand who is listening.

I want you to know that I respect your judgement so much and I trust your mind because it’s deep, rich and way beyond your years. But I want you to know that you’re never older than your experience.

Your heart is rich, your soul is warm, you love fiercely, honestly and kindly. I want you to always be my woman - soft, kind, sweet and you, and I will be your man every day.

This is a letter to you, my love.