First of all, let me say congratulations. Congratulations for deciding to put up with my crazy attitude, mood swings, stressful days, good days and all my ridiculous antics.

Deciding to spend the rest of your life with me means more to me than you will ever know. You are accepting me for all that I am and all the baggage included.

When we start dating, I want you to know that you don’t have to open every door for me. You don’t have to buy me jewelry or surprise me with Victoria’s Secret like all those guys on Twitter do. You don’t have to remember every single month-a-versary that passes as we begin our lives together.

I want you to know that I will hold the door open for you, I’ll surprise you with gifts, and I can pay for dinner.

What I want is a relationship of honestly, loyalty, trust, communication, happiness, humor, acceptance, equality and love.

I hope you can look past my flaws and my insecurities. I hope that my flaws become perfections in your eyes.

I hope we get to travel together and I hope you love to see new things as much as I do. I want to see the world with you and experience new things and stay in gross hotels and live off cheap diners.

I hope we can laugh together. I hope that we have too many inside jokes to count and I can give you one pointed look and you will burst out laughing. I want you to tell me stupid jokes that I’ll end up laughing at anyway and you to have a funny side to your usually-mature demeanor.

I hope we can listen to music together. I hope that you share my love of indie alt and singer/songwriter music and we can slow dance to some Walk the Moon at our wedding. I hope you want our first dance song to be Aquaman because that is my hipster girl dream. I hope that we can lay together on a rainy day and listen to the 1975 and Sleeping at Last. I hope you will softly sing some Ed Sheeran or John Mayer into my ear at 3 in the morning even if you are completely tone-deaf.

I hope we can enjoy silence together. When we are together and there is nothing that we need to say, I hope we can comfortably sit together and enjoy each other’s company. I hope we can sit on the couch and listen to the rain together and not say a word and let the silence speak our unspoken thoughts.

I hope we fight. That’s right, I want to scream at you because you made bad decisions and then I’ll cry because you screamed right back. I want you to yell at me because I insulted you one step too far. I want our fights to teach us lessons about each other and how to resolve our issues. I want to find compromise and understanding in our relationship.

I hope that my extra toothbrush at your apartment will turn into a drawer in your dresser which will turn into my side of the closet which will turn into picking out new bedsheets for our bed. I want for us to grow closer together and to learn something new about each other every day. I want to feel the same tickle in my stomach when you tell me you love me for the rest of my life.

I hope that in the early hours of the morning, when you are fast asleep and insomnia has taken me prisoner, I can listen to the sound of you breathing and feel comforted. I hope that you will reach out for me in your sleep because your subconscious loves me just as much as your conscious does.

I hope that we can adopt a dog together and have that be our first “child”. I hope you play with the puppy and get angry when it pees in the house and insist that you don’t love it but I know that you really do.

And I hope that on our wedding day, you feel just as happy about me becoming your wife as I feel about you being my husband for the rest of my life. I hope that we both cry when I walk down the aisle and I hope that your smile reflects the same thousand-sun wattage as mine. I hope that you can barely wait for the minister to say “You may now kiss the bride” because you can’t help yourself.

I don’t need a huge diamond ring that costs half a year’s pay. I don’t need a giant wedding with 400 people in attendance. I don’t need a destination wedding on a beach where only a few friends can make it because airfare will be so expensive by that time. The only thing I need is the promise that you will be in my life forever. The only thing I need is you.

I hope that we are able to work through our differences and be patient and kind to each other. I hope that when I’m angry at you for leaving your socks next to the dresser instead of in the hamper, you can forgive me and realize that’s just the way I am. I hope that when you’re super angry at me because I’m being irrational about you getting drunk with your friends, we can compromise and never have to worry that things won’t turn out in the end.

I never want to have a doubt in my mind that we won’t be able to work through a problem. I married you for a reason and part of the battle is helping each other through our hardships.

I hope that we never lose ourselves in the hectic battle of life. When you’re stuck at work until after the kids are in bed and I’m angry because they wanted to say goodnight to dad, I hope that you can assure me that everything will be okay and you’ll always be here no matter what. I hope that when our daughter has soccer practice, a dance recital, and a birthday party in one week, we can work together to provide everything she needs.

I hope that we can go to each other for anything. Whether it be a problem at work, with the kids, with a friend, and especially with each other, we can speak to each other in a mature way. We can help each other and reach compromises and solve problems.

I hope that our kids are just as wonderful as you are and I hope they grow into the man I decided to marry. I want our kids to be respectful, kind, open-minded and creative. I hope they develop the same attributes you have because if they are even half as incredible as you are, I will be the proudest mom in the world.

I hope that we can grow old together and live the remainder of our lives in peace and happiness. I hope we can share the same love through our last years together and joke and laugh as we always have. When we are old and wrinkly, I hope you still look at me the same way you did on our wedding day.

I hope I never have to live a single day without you by my side.

To my best friend, my partner in crime, my husband, good luck with your life until our paths cross. See you soon.