Brighten.
Today has felt that same sort of wonderfulness as the day after you spend the night at someone's house for the first time. I'm buzzing.

Erik and I have a tendency to stay up too damn late, and I usually snooze from 6:12 until 7:12 when my alarm automatically shuts off because apparantly nobody in the alarm clock manufacturer's beta test group snoozes for over an hour. Today, I finally woke up at 7:30 and took my sweet time getting to work.

It occasionally feels like we're just starting to date, except we have the added bonus of four years and some excellent premarital counselling under our belts. And we don't have to worry about any awkward toilet issues whilst spending the night together. In fact, I once demanded a Reading : Pooing ratio from Erik after one appointment-delaying "issue." Nothing says true love like poo and math.

I crave being around Erik. I look forward to going home from work. I look forward to waking up in the morning and having him next to me. Note that I don't look forward to waking up in general, though. Making Erik laugh feels far better than impressing a room full of strangers. It doesn't seem to matter how or with whom we spend our time, just as long as we're together. Side note: "Just As Long As We're Together" was one of my favorite books growing up.

My heart still races a little when I think of the way he tells me that I'm "damn sexy" and the way he calls me random vegetables when saying goodnight because once I accidentally called him chicken and tried to redeem myself by saying, "You know, it's endearing. Like pumpkin." His presence comforts me and energizes me and charms me and makes everything better. It's not that I can't imagine what life would be like without Erik; I can, and sometimes the twenty years of my life before we met feel as good as wasted, or at best, practice.

Just over eight months ago, we danced to "Northern Sky" beneath a blanket of September stars, and I remember how I tried to sing along with Nick Drake but somehow couldn't make any words come out. Magic, crazy as that.

It's a beautiful spring day today; I have loved him through the winter and I will love him through the rest.