Good start to the day...

That feeling you get whenever you are inexplicably happy and you aren't sure there is just 1 reason for it.

Things just seem really good today. They're good usually, but this is special. Valentine's Day is approaching around the corner, and though we won't be doing anything in particular on the actual day of, we will be spending the following Saturday doing whatever the hell we want. I live for these days. The days when I get to be with her with nothing else going on. Those are the best. Nothing else in the world to get in the way. Just us.

When I look into her eyes and I see them light up it warms my heart like something out of a bad romance movie or novel. It's not the life-going-at-90-miles-per-hour kind of fun that I enjoy the most, but the moments when we both take a breath and come back down to the Earth's surface with the rest of the mortals and we look at each other. It's the gentle, soft, kind of passionate kiss that we share that makes the torch I carry for her even brighter. Even more intense.

The week can seem routine. I wake up. I go to the job I dislike. I do the same job I've been doing since I was 17. I go home. I exercise. And with the remaining 5-7 hours, I'm free to do anything I like, or sleep. But not both. And as bland and soul-sucking as that may seem, whenever I spend my time with her, I couldn't care less about what little time I have, or what I'm not getting done. What's important is that I get to see that smile and that I get to be the one that holds her close.

So even though there are many things about her that make me happy, I guess I can really say that it actually does come down to 1 thing that is making me so happy today. All of these little things come from 1 person. Her. My Gretchen. The love of my life. The one that I cannot see myself without. The idea of what our future holds, hours from now and years from now, fills me with so much joy and hope for the days, months, and years to come.

So. Good start to the day... The kind of start that makes the flame bigger and reminds you of the love you felt when you decided to grant your own wishes by taking that leap of faith and kissing that beautiful woman who laid right beside you on that fateful night.