Living Proof

Without You Sometimes I can just look at you and know what you’re thinking. It’s not predictability. It’s our connection. It’s our likeness and differences that make us mesh so well. It’s our understanding that although we’re very different and lead different types of lives, we always come back to the one life we live together. Our friendship, our relationship, our marriage isn’t perfect, and if it were, it would be fake. “Hi, how was your day?” “Fine, and yours?” “Fine.” “Goodnight.” “Goodnight...” No... It’s more than that. It’s knowing that after a hard day, you can rest your head in a place that’s truly your “home” - a place where you are loved and taken care of. I know I can come home and find love inside. This place wouldn’t be a home without you. It would be just four walls and my empty heart. It would be cooking for one, perhaps take out. ..alone. It would be dreaming about my best friend, my wife. Mornings would be dreadful. No more breakfast for two, just a cup of coffee. .....

Some people get tired when their significant other says, “I love you” one too many times. For me, it sounds like the first time you have ever said it. Then you ask, “Do you feel it?” I do...I do. Not only do you say it --you show it. Love may be a feeling, but it is also an action. “To love someone” is to “show someone”. Words are meaningless sometimes. You never have to prove to me that you love me. It’s evident.  It’s the way you always kiss me when you come home at night. It’s the way you always kiss me before we go to sleep. It’s the way we both get excited for our days off together. It’s the way you take care of me when I’m sick. It’s the way you make me laugh when I’m in a grumpy mood or do something silly just to get a smile out of me. It’s the way you’re so fascinated by my work and look at it as if it’s your first time seeing it. It’s the way you listen to me when I need someone to talk to. It’s the way you truly understand why I’m sad or why I’m feeling frustrat...

It all started with the personal ad, “GWF seeking SGF for friendship or more.” You responded. I was only twenty years old, you were thirty. I lied about my age and said I was twenty-one so you knew I could go out and have a few drinks with you, because I had my fake id. At the first sight of you, I honestly thought you would never go for me. “She’s too good for me - this date is so over already!” I kept saying that in my head as you kept luring me in with that beautiful smile of yours. The unspoken rule about dating is: you never call the next day. You called me 10am the next morning. I remember it clearly, as I was lying in my retro waterbed nursing a hangover, letting my answering machine pick up my morning phone calls. You said you had so much fun and would like to see me again. I couldn’t believe you were saying all of this on my answering machine! I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. I seriously thought I would never hear back from you. We started going out e...