We started with stolen coffee shop kitchen kisses

We upgraded to hand holding on Main Street

We took adventures to alien landscapes

Driving under star-filled skies that left our lungs empty

Our eyes still shining days after

Camping on the edge of civilization

Feeding off each other’s warmth long after the fire’s embers succumbed to the night

It was not all smooth sailing

We hit rocky shores

Tumbled close to catastrophic cliffs

We learned how to love in the way the other needed

We challenged ourselves by leaving home together

Tested whether our love would continue to grow in new climates

We weathered storms that toppled others

We clung to one another as our shelter collapsed around us

We always combed through the rubble for one another

Never content to leave what we had behind

Rebuilding, hand in hand

We stood still when it was easier to walk away

Eventually we outsmarted the storms

We bolstered the barracks

We learned love was not a single battle

But a war

That victory had to be hard fought everyday

That soulmates were not simply destined

But deserved

Standing firm at the post

Hand in hand