How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways

"I'm so blessed my Lord I can see you... I see you in the eyes of my very best friend." 

 It  was early this 2018 when I had this subject called Poetry in my Master's Degree of which we were tasked to do a Demo teaching of a poem of our own choice. While I did my all time favorite poem in all aspect of my life , The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost , a classmate had Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It is also known as How To Love Thee and for you to have an idea as to why I fell in love with this sonnet , here it is for you to read. :)

How Do I Love Thee ( Sonnet 43)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's 

Most quiet need , by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely , as men strive for right. 

I love thee purely , as they turn from praise. 

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs , and with my childhood's faith. 

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breadth ,

Smiles , tears , of all my life ; and , if God choose,

I shall love thee better after death. 

And so I'm doing my fair share of this counting the ways as to how I love "the husband" as he is turning 28 today. Only that mine would be called How I will Write About Him. 

This is how I'll write about him. I'll  write about him because I want to immortalize him in every single word I have for him. I want to live in every thought what I will pour out in this writing. I'll write about him not only because today is his birthday, but instead I want the world to know that in this lifetime ,  I have met that one soul  who made me  have faith in romance again and so for my entire lifetime , I want to spend it loving him more. I'll write about him because he is exceptional , and I want to keep record of how amazing I thought of him the first time his eyes met mine on that cold night of March 2007. I'll write about him because he makes me happy in so many ways I never thought possible  that it scares the shit out of me for I might get used to them and that they may not last. Hence, I want to reread this years from now , and see how far we'll make it. I'll write about him because even though we just got married, having him as a boyfriend for a decade , he already genuinely feels like a home to my heart and having him around makes me undeniably safe. 

. . . from one of our 2015 travels

I'll write about him in an impeccable way. I'll write not about the color of his shirt when we first meet for no matter how I will keep reminding him he tends to always forget. I'll write not about how he looked when we first said hi and hello , because he was totally under the shadow of a tree and the absence of sun makes me not able to remember it . I can't even remember if we met on a Monday or a Friday and not even the very first cafe where we had our very first date . However I'll write about how crazy it was for him to travel miles to see me and how dragging it always was to  wait for weekdays to finally see him. I'll write about how he came into my life and waited for the perfect time to finally court me and how he immediately became my ray of sunshine. :) 

I'll write about the truth that though we agree on many things, we totally disagree on many others and that  thus making us even more respectful for each other's ways and wants. I'll write about how he always tolerates all I am into  down from my "kakiyan"  up to my professional growth and how he has always supported me in between those two. He searched bookstores for rare books I want, stood at my back during those days I felt wearing heels at all time, scrutinized the bags I wanted  before paying in the counter, planted succulents  I have been eager to collect and to even pet dogs he does not like. There are actually a lot more that I can speak of , things of which are way too far from what  he loves doing, but eventually he does just for me.

. . . my dearest Pawpaw is always to the recue ;)

I'll write about how he made me go beyond my comfort zone and encouraged me to grow professionally and how stubborn I was to always delay taking up my Master's Degree because I  have always loved to dilly-dally at times.

I'll write how he always made me the subject of his amateurish photography  and how passionate he is for such craft and how his face beams with light whenever he sees a perfect and  picturesque spot.  I'll write about how amazing he is to always put up with all my stories ,  opinions , rantings and whining.

I'll write about how I loved every moment we spent on breakfast, lunch, and dinner ; and how weird it will always be that we both enjoy our  extra meal of which he calls as our "rebanse". 

I'll write about how unforgettable the way he looked when he told me he liked me for the very first time and the feeling we had on our very first date. I'll write about how beautiful the feeling which our hearts felt during that very moment. I'll write about the way his eyes glowed whenever he'd smiled and the thickness of his eyebrows of which to me are close to perfection.

I'll write about the music of his laugh , and how soothing the sound of his heartbeat is every time I rest my head in his chest. I'll write about how happy I am to have met him in this lifetime. Truly,  I will always fail in putting them into words.

This is how I will write about him. I will immortalize him in my words; and will never forget how he made me feel. I'll write about how promising we are and how I think it is worth it because it is HIM.

I never thought I would end up marrying himhim  I will always give thanks to the One above for having the working of His magnificent wonder into our lives. And just as what Elizabeth Barrett Browning said, "I love thee with the breadth , Smiles , tears , of all my life ; and, if God choose, I shall love thee better after death."