Thoughts At Eight

Dear Bear,

I can’t believe that I could have ever felt the way I do about anyone the way I do about you.

You never asked me why I loved you and I never told you.

The truth of the matter was, I vividly remember our early encounters, watching how much you cared for your patients, and remembered thinking that if you could care so much for total strangers, you must have an even bigger capacity to care for your loved ones – and whoever was fated to be your partner would be a lucky girl indeed. I never thought I'd be that lucky girl.

I fell in love with you for your commitment to your work, because it illustrated the man you are – a man of principle and patience, a man who takes responsibility for the lives of others, a man who would carry the team and hold it together.

I’m so proud that your character has been recognized by our bosses, to the extent that you've been offered to be retained. It's what you wanted, wasn't it - to have two departments fight over you by the end of your posting - and you're not even finishing anytime soon!

I never thought we had a fighting chance – through our differences and our different backgrounds, with our pasts and the challenges, when we started I decided to throw caution to the winds.

I gave it three months, you gave it four.

Somehow we lasted this long. I couldn’t even remember our anniversary in the first place and before you, never placed any importance in the dates, but today, I count every passing month as an achievement that somehow we’ve made it through so far.

Soon, I will leave, and this relationship will be tested.

I don’t know how we’ll fare through the distance.

Time will tell.

For the moment, I’m counting my blessings, and my moments with you.