Thank you. Thank you, sir, for entering my life when I didn't know I needed you.

I didn't need you before. I didn't need a man in my life to make me feel complete, or whole, or whatever people call it. I was raised to be independent, self-sufficient, to love myself.

I was content with my place in life. I was about to graduate college, I had a career lined up once I graduated and I was going to move to a new city. But then, you came along.

You were kind, loving, hilarious and willing to make long-distance work. You showed me your heart and I showed you mine. You were willing to meet my parents and you were willing to show me off to yours. I never once had a man want me to be part his life. I was used to being an option. I was used to never being included in family functions, but somehow you looked at me differently, loved me differently and let me in.

I didn't know I needed you. I didn't know I would need such an amazing support person as I started this new chapter of my life. I didn't know I would have days filled with anxiety over my NCLEX exam and you & my mom would be the only people to ground me. I didn't know I needed someone to feel proud of me, to hug me on my good days at work and hold me tighter when days didn't go so well.

I didn't know I needed a best friend like you when I had plenty of them. I have my friends from college and from my hometown. I didn't know I was ever going to expand that circle outside of them. I didn't know I needed your listening ear, your advice on life, or a simple joke to make me smile. I didn't know I could laugh as hard as I do around you. I feel myself completely with you.

I can be the girl with the booming laugh and obnoxious snore, without a single judgment from you. You looked at my differently, and loved me differently and let me in.

Thank you, for entering my life when I didn't know I needed you.