For my husband Henry

I have always felt that these three words were often abused, and I will have to be, admittedly, one of the guilty parties in abusing it. Let me start by saying I love you again, and look back as we started.

We may have met in the most uncommon and ungodly of places and time, but I never regret any minute of it, even as I look back. There were times that I wish we had put up a savings account first, or that we made better decisions, but now I understand that these mistakes were the ones that taught us the best lessons in life, and made us who we are now.

I'd like to think we are able to afford certain luxuries now more than before (this laptop that never ceases to make clacking sounds, the two door fridge, playground sessions with the kids almost every week, my phone, your motorcycle, etc.) and I know for a fact that this is all because of our hard work. I can still remember how frightened I was to discover I was pregnant, with only a semester to finish in college, and you in your current field of work. How in the world were we ever going to get through things? I used to wonder about that, but we did.

My parents did not take things well, something I have learned to accept over the years, despite the fact that hateful words were sent through every form of communication imaginable. When I decided to move in with you almost a year after we were secretly married, my only thoughts then were for our eldest daughter. She needed a father growing up, and that was something I was not going to deprive her of, even if I had to learn to live away from the comfort and luxury of the place I used to call home. We started out slowly, and things were hard to say the least. I remember what my mom told me, "Gumapang sana kayo sa hirap parang mga ahas" (May you crawl in hardships as snakes do), and we did. I remember how our menu was made up of instant noodles and rice for so many months, and canned goods were considered a treat during payday. But we went through that all, we didn't mind eating that kind of food as long as we were able to buy our eldest daughter's brand of milk and diapers all the time.

When it was the both of us working together, things made a change for the better. And with the help of your mother in law to watch over our daughter as we turned nights into day and days into nights, we slowly but surely did make it through.

I often ask you why you love me, and why of all the other women in the world you chose to be with me. I ask you this not because I have any doubts on the love we share, but I want to know what good deed I have done in this world for me to deserve a husband as loving as you are. You always tell me I'm being unreasonable when I demand you be near me all the time - can I help it if I miss you the instant my eyes don't see you? We may have our disagreements every now and then (partly from my being childish and ultra-sensitive and your being hardheaded and unreasonable), but we make it through all of those with ease.

May 2010 will mark 10 years of being together as boyfriend-girlfriend, husband-wife, best friends, soulmates, lovers, and partners in crime, and I eagerly look forward to many more years of my life with you. I love you, and I will never get tired of saying so, and I hope you will not get tired of hearing it as well.