Dear Mandy🌷

Mandy,

It’s still wild to me how much has changed since we met. I wasn’t looking for a complete shift in my life, but it happened anyway - quietly, then all at once. It wasn’t one big, dramatic moment. It was the accumulation of little ones, like a slow reveal that the life I wanted was actually possible.

Do you remember when I met your parents? I was nervous in that “I really hope I don’t screw this up” kind of way. Not because I thought I’d make a bad impression - I mean, maybe that too - but more because I already cared so much, and I didn’t want anything to get in the way of what we had.

That’s been the theme, honestly. So many times I’ve had that feeling of, “God, I hope nothing messes this up,” because it’s meant more and more to me as we’ve built it.

You were the moment everything started to shift for me. Before you, there were periods where things felt stuck, like I was just running down the clock without a clear sense of what came next. I didn’t feel ready for anything real - not because I didn’t want it, but because I didn’t think I could do it. I worried I would miss the moment, or worse, ruin it.

And then there you were. Somehow both exciting and calming. And things started to move. Not in some grand-gesture kind of way - but in the routines. The little, quiet things. Grocery runs. Cooking together - or for each other. Decorating your apartment for Christmas. Making homemade wontons from scratch. Playing with the cats. Hosting big holiday dinners and barely getting everything on the table in time. Even just walking around the neighborhood feels meaningful when it’s with you. None of it feels like a chore. It all feels like building something.

That road trip to Waterton is still one of my favorite memories. We covered so much ground - long drives, hikes, boat rides, unfamiliar towns - and it never felt stressful. Just easy. Comfortable. Like no matter where we were, it felt like home because we were doing it together. I wasn’t trying to impress you. You weren’t trying to impress me. We were just us - tired, curious, navigating it all together. And that made it perfect. The Japan and Korea trip, same thing. It felt easy in the best way - traveling side by side, adapting as we went, getting lost, and not caring.

That ease didn’t just happen on vacation. It’s everyday, too. Even the stuff that annoys me sometimes - like when you’re deep into scrolling Instagram - somehow it just folds into the rhythm of us. I roll my eyes and pretend to be grumpy, but even that’s part of what makes us feel like a team. It’s not friction, it’s familiarity.

You’ve changed my life. Not by swooping in or fixing me - not by pushing - but by being so incredibly supportive. You made me feel like being loved wasn’t a fluke. Like I didn’t have to earn it constantly or prove I was worth it. You just stayed. And cared. And believed in me in all the right ways.

You’ve brought so much joy and ease into my life, made me feel grounded, made the future seem not only possible but actually exciting. You’re brilliant. Beautiful. Deeply thoughtful. And somehow, also really, really fun to be around - even when we’re doing absolutely nothing.

And when you got Charlie because you loved Felix and Chloe - it showed me how fully you embraced me. You didn’t just accept our life - you expanded it. Charlie wasn’t just your cat. It was you saying, ‘This is our life now’. We’re already building something. A home, a rhythm, a shared life with fur everywhere. And I love that.

I want more of it. I want the full story. The quiet nights, the hard parts, the good chaos, the shared future we keep catching glimpses of.

Because at the end of the day, the thing I care about most - the thing I come back to over and over - is the idea of being a team. No scorekeeping. No tallying who did what. Just two people showing up for each other. Picking up the slack when the other’s worn out. Having each other’s backs without hesitation. Making decisions together. Celebrating together. Carrying the weight together when it gets heavy. That’s what I believe in. That’s what this is to me.

So here it is: I want to keep doing what we’ve already started. Keep growing, keep loving, and keep choosing this life we’ve been shaping - day by day. Not a dramatic moment - just the next part of our story.