After 10 Years

Our First Year

I realized that the guy I married is different from the guy I am with today. A decade has passed, our bellies have grown, gray hairs appeared and wrinkles have shown. He has changed a lot and I look at him differently now. I look at him from a place of profound love; I look at him with reverence to the man he has become; I look at him in awe as he does the dishes and when he lovingly tucks the girls to sleep.

He has made me his equal for the past 10 years. He has never made me feel inferior and has supported the things I wanted for myself. He was willing to take the back seat as I try to find my niche in the world. He has taught me the value of compromise, when compromise is something my stubborn self wouldn’t do if not for him. We’ve been a team.

We are a team in raising our two equally beautiful children. We enjoy doing things together. We have accepted each other’s flaws. We have learned to laugh at each other’s annoying habits. We still argue but we don’t keep tabs on who’s right and who’s wrong. We have endless conversations about life, showbiz, politics, science, grammar, math. We talk about our crushes, and how good he is at flirting and how awkward I am when trying.

After 10 long years, I realized how much love he can give, how generous his heart is, how forgiving and selfless he is. And I mean generosity, forgiveness and selflessness in its truest sense. I wouldn’t have known these if it were not for the roller coaster ride we took for the past 10-unbelievable-years. We have survived some difficult situations. We have conquered our fears.

Things have changed between us. We are not the quirky couple in our 20s anymore. We have responsibilities far beyond our imagination. We have a lot of things to consider now when making decisions. We learned to pick our battles. We are bent to not lose sight of what’s important. And while huge changes came, some things remained the same.

10 years later, he’s still the one I’m excited to talk to at the end of the day. I still look forward to his texts. He still makes me smile for no reason. His stare can still make my heart flutter. He still reminds me how beautiful I am. He still is truly, madly deeply in love with me as much as I am with him. Our youth has passed, but we never failed to feel young at heart. We still talk for hours on end. We still laugh like crazy just because we thought something’s funny. We give each other space. Our issues are dealt together with grace.

After ten years, his hand still fits in mine, and as he slid his fingers between mine, I tightly held his hand, looked at him and smiled. This guy right here is more than what I have prayed for; and I thank the high heavens that ten years later after saying “I do”, every waking moment is still a dream come true.