Dear Z,

I wish that I could have protected our time together this evening, but I found myself referencing a particularly difficult social situation even as we were lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. We had plenty to talk about that day without it. You and I are never short for topics of conversation, one of the many reasons I continue falling more deeply in love with you.

Thinking about the huge part that conversation has played in our relationship always brings back to mind one of our first dates, just blocks away from your parents’ house, talking on a nearby park bench and checking the time to find out we had talked until 2:22 in the morning. We were shocked, it had only just been 10pm a few minutes before. When we got back, the door was locked and we had to wake your sister up to come down and let you in.

I drove home that night (early morning rather) half-afraid of receiving a phone call from your father. The other half of me couldn’t believe that I had found someone so beautiful, so easy to talk to, and so willing to break curfew to finish our conversation. It wouldn’t be the last night that we stayed up too late talking about everything from Harper Lee to the problem of evil to what we wanted to be when we grew up (are we grown up now?).

This night, however, even as you were nursing our son, and I was rocking him to sleep, you were validating my feelings and brainstorming responses. I know that you had a hard day, feeling more and more that our current living situation is too far from the people we love, but you sacrificed that to lift my head back up above the water.

But tonight, we’re going to return to regular life. And there is so much to talk about. Your upcoming week-long visit to your parents’ house, my godson’s chrismation service, our subsequent 13+ hour road trip back home with baby and pup in the back seat. So many adventures, both the good and bad, and all of them with you. I couldn’t be a luckier man.

Yours,

S