Our love is defined by the scratches around it, the nail marks inside it, the bruises, the batterings
Our love is defined by the fight it has
the depth of its breath
the hardness of its shell
Our love is defined by the people who lather, grace like honey, layer by layer, onto it
Our love is defined by the tightness of grip
the never-give-in-ness about it
Our love is defined by a series of chords, tying all of you to all of me
Our love is defined by me doing silly things
daily
and you being strong enough to laugh at me
Our love is defined by two pairs of boxing gloves, one for you, one for me
we never let each other get away with the big things
Our love is defined by piles of clothes
and dishes in the sink
that we almost always refuse to fight about
We’ve made a decision quietly between us,
that there are more important things in life.
Our love is defined by the roads in our future
that we’re preparing for now
with small adventures
Our love is defined
Ultimately
by someone braver than ourselves
Someone who believes in us
Someone who loved us first
and taught us how
to walk in this first year
with fumbling baby steps
so that we’re able to fly
into the rest of our lives
For my Sean, without whom the world would be very big and scary, and very small and stuffy. Thank you for your uncanny ability to understand me and for giving me the right to be peculiar. For that, I will love you with all my heart, for all your days.
Pilgrim Child 