Tomorrow is our first

 “Wedding” Anniversary.  

And, I call it our Wedding Anniversary even though Mike died before we said

“I do”. 

 

I married him in a thousand different ways before he even asked me to be his wife.

In our hearts we were husband and wife;

And, now given the circumstance, people tell me that’s what matters.

 

Still, I wish I stood before Mike in a white dress. 

I wish my eyes met his as he lifted my veil.

I wish we were pronounced Husband and Wife.

But, that is not what happened.  

 

And, well, this evening,

the night before our first wedding anniversary,  certainty isn’t how I pictured it. 

Sometimes I can not believe any of this is truly real. 

As I type this, I can feel it, tonight  is not going to be easy… 

These anniversary dates are beyond difficult. 

I miss him to the depths of me.  

But, missing Mike doesn’t change his deadness.

The intensity of my “missingness” doesn’t bring him back to life. 

Nothing can.

So, I will just accept, that tonight is harder than the other nights.

 

I will remember my husband.

I will wish the future was how we imagined it would be,

Then, I will cry because it is so very different than we expected.

And, then, I will cry some more.

And, after, I will dry my tears,

And, I will listen to our favorite songs on repeat,

While I will celebrate our Love for one another.  

 

I am anxious because as the stars come out later tonight,

I know that I will miss my husband

– to the depths of me.

He is supposed to be here celebrating our first wedding anniversary.

But, he’s not here.  

At least not physically…

So, I will sit alone in my backyard,

And, I will imagine what our life would be like if he didn’t die.  

Because, now, all I can do now is imagine…

 

If Mike was alive,

I know we’d be going away tonight to celebrate our Anniversary.

With our suitcases packed,

And, our hearts even fuller,

We’d head out into the world.

Hand in hand.

We’d be filled with gratitude for the life we share this past year as newlyweds.  

Wherever we were,

I know that we’d stay up too late talking about all our hopes and dreams. 

 

Mike and I were really best friends.  

It felt like we were having a lifelong sleepover with one another. 

It was almost too good to be true.

(Then it was.)

 

Sometimes we’d look at each other and smile

because we couldn’t believe how much fun we were having.  

It was fun in the simplest sense. 

We’d sit in bed and eat twizzlers and watch tv. 

And, other times we’d have a hot tub under the light of the moon.

Then, we’d turn the music on a little too loud and crowd each other

by the stove at midnight as we drank wine and made grilled cheese sandwiches

on his favorite cheap white bread.

 

It was a sweet, crazy love. 

And, I miss it.

At the time, we both knew there was something beyond magical between us. 

But, we couldn’t quite name it.

I still can’t.

 

Tonight, in honour of all that we were together,

I will drink red wine and I will wish he was here with me

– like I do every single day. 

But, tonight, I will wish he was here  a little harder than usual.

 

Our Love was a beautiful love to witness while Mike was here on Earth. 

And, it remains a strong love – even now.  

Ours is a big love.  A love that reaches across dimensions.

 

 

 

 

                    

 

Our Love

 

Ours was a deep, pure love.

The type of love that makes you weak at the knees

– just thinking about it.

The kind of love people could feel when we were in the room with them.

A love that softly swirled 

around us.

A love that vibrates in the air,

A love others could see and feel.

Many times, strangers took notice when we walked by.

Ours was a love that could not be contained.

It was bigger than us.

It still is.

 

We had the kind of love that finds you pushed up against the wall,

Out of breath,

With your hair a mess,

 In the middle of the afternoon.

 

A passionate love.

 

A close your eyes, 

Tilt your head back,

Inhale him,

And, 

Wait for his lips to find your mouth,

Put your hands on me,

Brush the hair from my eyes,

Kind of love.

A sultry love.

 

Intense, consuming love.

 

Our SOULS love each other  Fiercely.  

And, they will continue to,

beyond this lifetime.

 

We had a carefree, unbridled love.

We still do.

 

Our love

Is a quiet and gentle love, too.

It is a love you feel contently,

Gazing at you,

From across the room,

At any given moment,

Of an ordinary day.

 

A Love that has its own Life Force.

A beyond powerful love.

A superhuman love.

 

A love that falls more deeply into itself by just watching,

A love without words.

A love that could fill pages with handwritten expressions of consuming

adoration and admiration.

I could write about my love for Mike until my hand and head were drunk

on my words about him.

 

Ours is,

A sweet, tender love,

A love you can feel,

Breathing,

On the back of your neck.

 

A dependable love.

A love that holds you,

Late into the midnight hour.

A love that you fall deeper into,

With every goodnight kiss.

 

A comfortable love,

A love that lays it’s eyes on you,

Like it’s the first time,

-every time.

 

A love you want to 

Wake up next to,

For the rest of your life.

The love – of – your – life

Kind of love.

 

This is the love we fell into.

This is the love that had him ask me to be his wife.

This is the love Mike wanted to lay down next to every night.

This is the love we we wanted to open our eyes to every morning.

And, neither of us will never fall out of it.

 

~ Mike’s Wife