My darling, remember when we wanted what we currently have?

My darling,

On our wedding day, we had big dreams—dreams for our careers, dreams for our home, dreams for the family we’d build, dreams of travel—dreams and ambitions we still push each other to chase every single day. And I love that.

But I think sometimes we forget that on that magical day we had small dreams too. Dreams that were not grand or noteworthy. Dreams that would not make a bucket list. Dreams of the ordinary, everyday variety.

Dreams of waking up beside each other each morning. Dreams of starting a family. Dreams of raising our children in a happy home. Dreams of the mundane everyday.

Dreams which I now look around to find—almost without us even noticing—have come wonderfully, magically true.

Do you realize that, while we run after the big goals in this life, we have everything we ever wanted, after all?

We woke up beside each other this morning, and that is a dream come true.

Your daughters look up at you with your own blue-green eyes, wide with adoration, and that’s a dream come true.

You make me laugh every single day, even as I berate you for leaving your socks on the floor, and that’s a dream come true.

On weekends, you and the kids make pancakes together, using every instrument you can find and leaving the kitchen looking like a hurricane has passed through when you’ve finished, and that’s a dream come true.

Our eldest comes home from school each day with a new tale to tell about the continents, the lifecycle of a butterfly, the pyramids, the ouchie on her knee, and that’s a dream come true.

Our daughters run fearlessly into the ocean, and that’s a dream come true.

You’ve learned to make me the Perfect Cup of Tea, and that’s a dream come true.

So I’m taking this moment, my love, to stop and appreciate all the wonderful things we already have. I’m stopping to take stock of all the dreams that have already come true, and I realize that, even as we reach for new horizons, goals and ambitions, this I know for sure: right here, right now, I have everything I’ve ever wanted.

Let us not miss these moments as we strive for the next ones.

Let us not let the perfect half-moon-shape of our youngest’s eyelashes on her sleeping cheeks be overlooked.

Let us notice the way she runs up to kick a ball and how the enthusiasm of it knocks her right off her feet.

Let’s laugh at their faces dripping with ice cream and their milk mustache.

Let’s appreciate the moments we lie with them to read a bedtime story.

Let’s see the magic in teaching them to suck a strand of spaghetti up through their lips so that the sauce splatters all over their cheeks.

Let our long-term plans not get in the way of our appreciation of right now: of this weekend and sandcastles built and jumped on, of Cocoa Puffs with Saturday morning cartoons and the tugging of a little hand at ours as she says, “I want to show you!”

Let’s revel in the salty, sticky, exhausted little bodies that spill sand everywhere as we lift them into the car, half-asleep after a day on the beach.

Let’s find joy in our ability to comfort a frightened little soul as she wakes from a nightmare in the early morning hours.

Let’s be glad we never have a quiet moment to ourselves—our home is full of happy chaos, let’s not wish it to be any other way.

It’s everything we ever wanted.

So my darling husband, today—just for a moment—I’m standing still amidst the busyness of our everyday lives to truly notice what we have created together, both the outstanding and the ordinary.

And I love it all.

Right now at this moment, I don’t want to look to the horizon, the next life milestone. I want to be right here, right now, with you, in the life I always dreamed of.

Now, how about one of those perfect cups of tea?

XO,

Your loving wife

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