Today is Chuck and my ninth anniversary. Wow, nine years! If someone had told me 12 years ago what my life would be like today, I would never in a million years have envisioned my life as it is now. At that time I expected to live life as a single woman, independent, alone but happy with the way my life had turned out. Then out of left field this guy runs in (literally) and turns everything upside down. He made me realize things about myself that I had never known, and question things about myself that I had always accepted – that I was braver than I knew, that I was stronger than I thought I was, and that my capacity for love was much greater than I knew.

The universe has thrown us more than a few curves over these nine years, surgeries, cancer, family troubles – you know, life and all of its messiness. The one constant has been our love for, and faith in, each other. he is my touchstone and my best friend. I can no longer imagine a world without him in it. And this is both wonderful and terrifying.

There was a time in my life where I would have said that the trade off, the fear of loss, made the commitment more trouble than it was worth. I no longer agree – it has been worth all the risks, and I would do it all over again. If anything the fact that we won’t be here forever, that one of us will most likely lose the other at some point has actually made me more aware of how important it is to just simply love each other, one day at a time, for as long as we both shall live.

Thank you for the past nine years, for today, and for all of our tomorrows Charlie O’Shea. I love you.