Open Letter of Love and Affection to my Husband

Dear Seve,

When I was working for the Grand Teton National Lodge Company and missing you because we were engaged and making our wedding plans, but you were in that far off land of Missouri making money for our future as a substitute teacher and I was making money for our future as an Activities Coordinator planning client's day hikes, horseback rides and whatnot, I sat down with my boss one day for lunch and she described to me the love she felt for her own husband. They had quit their fancy executive jobs in Florida, bought a big RV, and took off on a journey around the States that left them running out of gas money by the time they reached Wyoming and had to get jobs there. They considered it part of the adventure and she was hired to be my boss and he was hired to be the boss of the people who worked across the lobby from us.

She told me that regardless of the things they were up to, fancy executive jobs or trekking Yellowstone, her love for her husband grew each day. She couldn't believe how much she loved him now. She thought she was on Full the day they married, but here they were a decade later and she loved him even more. I told her I knew what she meant and to an extent I did; I was aware that I would feel this growing love sensation as the years went by. But here we are, approaching our married-a-year mark, and I don't think my previous Teton-self knew I was capable of loving you this much.

I want to thank you for all the love and care you've given me these past two weeks that I've been sick; I know my coughing and nose-blowing at night has kept you from sleep just as much as it has me. Thanks for the tea, the cuddles, the Tom Waits, the tissues, the vereniki. 

Thanks for coming to Russia with me, for teaching with me and cruising Moscow and St. Petersburg with me and translating even when I should just try to pronounce the Russian myself. Thanks for not getting so mad at me when I'm clearly being a butthead, and for apologizing when you're being a butthead. Thanks for holding my hand and draping your arm around me and whispering "I love you," and stealing kisses and not caring who's looking.

It's hard to describe the love I feel for you, it's something like a glowing feeling every time I look at you or touch you. You're my best friend, and you're a darn good kisser. You make me feel important and wanted, and I hope I make you feel the same way. Because you are important and wanted, and because I love you.

Jules