I knew when I decided to love you

 

fully, with all of my cells

 

that I was risking everything.

 

I knew you were human

 

and that you might die

 

younger than either of us wanted.

 

Despite this,

 

I still chose to love all of you

 

with all of me.

 

Because you deserved that

 

and because I did too.

 

And though you did die –

 

younger than either of us wanted –

 

to stand in the pain of your death

 

and continue to love you fully,

 

fiercely,

 

with unwavering dedication,

 

has transformed me.

 

For I know now,

 

that to have given every breath of myself

 

to love the all of you

 

is the most beautifully brave thing

 

I have ever done in my lifetime.

 

It is the single greatest achievement

 

of my life.

 

I have learned

 

that this is what true love is –

 

to choose the possibility of pain

 

for the privilege to be love.

 

It is to risk everything

 

– everything –

 

inside ourselves.

 

It is to meet our greatest fears

 

and decide that it’s still worth it,

 

so that we may come to realize

 

that we are capable of giving

 

the kind of love

 

that changes lives

 

and moves mountains.

 

In this way,

 

true, deep, complete love is not easy.

 

It is simple, but not an easy choice.

 

Which is why

 

whenever I see such love in the world

 

It leaves me in awe.

 

Never a more beautiful thing

 

have I seen

 

than the immense bravery

 

of any single human being

 

that chooses to LOVE.