781 days.

That’s how long we have known each other. That’s how long ago since we walked into each other’s lives.

I still remember the first time I heard your voice. It was deep, resonant, and incredibly sexy, while mine was squeaky, cracking, and unusually high-pitched. Yours was a hearty laugh while mine sounded like an asthma attack. It’s either I didn’t sound that way to you, or you have just been polite about it all these years.

That day, we talked about the silliest things, like why we were still both single in our 30’s and how, as a Filipino spy, I can’t have your country’s fried chicken recipe. And when you joked about my being named after a disease, I already knew you were a keeper.

I love you.

I have loved you from the moment you wanted to learn everything about me – my dark past, my dim present, and my future that didn’t seem so bright. You didn’t mind that I wasn’t the best version of myself when we met. You only cared about sharing your dreams with me and making me happier than I already was.

Whatever we lacked in proximity, we made up for in interesting, happy, sad, and this-will-blow-your-mind stories. We have watched as much TV as any older couple would have, and exchanged words and promises like teenagers did over the phone in the early 90’s.

I was drawn to you like a moth to a flame, like metal to a magnet. I told myself that you could be the one. But how can two people, half across the world from each other, experience love like this? How can 8,000 miles of distance feel like nothing?

Days passed and seasons changed, and we’re still here, with a love stronger than ever.

The truth is simple.

We were meant for each other.

With you, the smallest of things are magnified, the simplest joys are multiplied. When I think about us together, it helps me get through the darkest of nights, and pulls me up in the laziest of mornings.

You are worth every tear, every longing, every sacrifice.

I hope that through this journey we’re taking, I would be able to share with you the best version of myself, the one who will care for you endlessly, love you selflessly, and understand you completely.

Happy 26th, Nerd.

No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to give something up in order to gain something greater…The love we have for each other is bigger than these small differences. And that’s the key. It’s like a big pie chart, and the love in a relationship has to be the biggest piece. Love can make up for a lot.



