Our first page

There are countless letters on countless pages in countless books in countless libraries. They all have something in common: none of them contain our story. Not a single sheet of paper in any of those books contain the emotions, passions, happiness, or sorrows of ours, nor the paths that we have taken. This, our paper anniversary, embodies the first page of a book that will one day be committed to the library of time.

In many ways, our paper anniversary was written on the first page in a book of a whole new library. It’s hard to miss the obvious pandemic elephant in the room, but it does embody quite well our first year together. Ilinda, we left our old paths to find one we vowed to walk on, alongside one another, but little did we know that this road would be in a world that nobody on our beloved planet would come to recognise.

We have had to hold on
to one another ever tighter

On this journey, at times, it has felt like we walked into that church on February 29th, 2020, and walked out into another realm. This reality wasn’t something any of us would have wished for, but is almost as exceptional as wartimes of yore. But, in the midst of these tempests, we have had to hold on to one another ever tighter. And that… that’s a mighty power that has taught me to hold on to what I have when everything else gets taken away.

Silver, gold and diamond – however much we aspire to clothe ourselves in such riches, none matter so much as the sets of footsteps beside mine. For, no riches in the world could ever shine so bright as the words we write onto these empty pages, by our very heartbeat, our every breath, and every footstep.

Ilinda, I’m madly in love with you.