My dearest love,

Though the years have passed and we have changed, you are more beautiful to me today than that first day when I couldn't keep my eyes off of you. Oh, how you took my breath away. It was as if a canvas of color had come to life. I feared to blink and chance to find it all a dream. I knew at once that I would spend every moment of my life winning your heart. And I have. Not in the other ways men do, with roses and empty words, but with an unwavering attendance to your happiness. That is why this year, for Valentine's day, I'm going to have our home mouse proofed.

Though those rodents have made us laugh by taking you by surprise and causing you to squeal and dance around the kitchen, they have also been a source of much frustration. Baking goods have been plundered, cabinets have been soiled, and we both know that wasn't the flu we had this year. Those mice have chewed their way into the boxes in our attic where our memories are stored, and I can only imagine what they are doing in our walls. I'm told that they chew on wires and can cause a home to catch fire. I won't allow them to continue to endanger what I hold most dear. I won't allow them to threaten what we have built together.

So, this year, instead of two dozen roses and a card espousing my undying love I will, instead, show my love by my actions, just like that time you looked out toward our back yard and wistfully imagined a swingset with our children playing on it, and how I had worked through the night to surprise you in the morning. And later, worked through another night, holding your hand and fighting back tears, as the first of those swinging children joined us in this beautiful life we share.

What greater love can be shown than to give one's life for that which we find most precious? You are my treasure. You are my very heart. And I will continue to work all the days of my life to make this home we share a safe and happy place to grow our dream. For it is the least I can do for the one who has brought me more happiness than any man deserves. My cherished. My beloved.

All my love.