Dear Other Half,

Let me start off by saying that I truly love you. There is no one that could love you like I do. We were made for each other. It is true that we are a couple of years into our relationship and many people around us are slowly starting to get engaged. Okay, I lied. Many people around us are getting engaged. Though, I do not shame those that are ready and are so in love with their significant other that they wish to get married soon. I cannot lie, that would be an amazing thing. If you know, you know, right? Well, I'm writing this to you because I don't want you to worry.

I can wait.

I know people today are getting married younger and younger. It is not completely frowned upon and it's not completed embraced. But, what I want you to understand is that I can wait to be married to you. Not because I don't love you as much as other people love their loved ones, but because there is a life I wish to live with you for just a bit longer that I cannot wait to start.

That life is a couple of years, maybe just two or so, after our college graduation. Why this time you may ask? Because this is the time of our life that excites me now, as I am writing this on the couch and you are at the desk huddled over, fully immersed in your work. Because at this time in our lives we will not be living in college dorms, we will not be confined to a dreary library where we slave away for hours doing school work, and we will not be trying to stay afloat in work while maintaining social lives, but we will be seen as ourselves. We will be you and me.

In this life, I hope to explore even more of your own life, deeper than before, while also cultivating and exploring a life with you. I want to wait because this portion of life is special. It's a time that we share together without obligation. We will show that we made it through the rough that is college and we will brave our adult world fears together, even without the tie that binds (that beautiful future life). That is what I want to see. I want to see us succeed and want each other even without a ring. I want this time to discover myself when I am beside you, before we become an equal pair.

I want to use this time to understand the beauty of our relationship. I want to start to unravel the answer to the question that alludes everyone, sometimes even through marriage: How did we find each other? It seems simple, maybe even silly to type out, but it's that question that will push us forward from our waiting period to our married life. It's that question that will help me understand us and our existence together.

I want you to have the time to figure your life out too. I want you to understand that you also need this time. You need it, not because you don't love me, but because you deserve it. You deserve to figure out what you want. Maybe you already know the answer to that, but having some time can be a very good thing. It could make that yes into a YES.

So, please don't feel like all the engagement rings floating around, my wedding pinterest board, and all the talk is society and me giving you all the signs. You can stop, you can breathe. No one is forcing you or pushing you to do anything. Because waiting is best, I think.

Right now, I enjoy watching you present me with pizza like a marriage proposal. I enjoy being completely childish with you. So let's not let it go to waste. Let's be young. Let's be us.

You can wait with me, because if we are going to wait, I'd rather do it with you.

Love,

Your Other Half