I know Thanksgiving is supposed to be the grateful holiday, but to me, Valentine’s day is the day through which I can express my deepest gratitude. There is no doubt that my wife is the blessing upon my life that I simply don’t deserve, but try to earn every day.

Like everybody else, I have hard times. But she tempers even the darkest days with her smile and super strong hugs. Regardless of what I face, her love shields me from any danger and I am safe within the knowledge that I am coupled with the strongest force in the universe. There have been times that I am knocked out, but she lifts me up and in her eyes I see a strength that can only come from the source of all that is good and strong and beautiful.

There aren’t words, really, that can describe the foundation she provides my world. If I have done anything to make the world even a slightly better place, it is because I can teach that love is real. I don’t know love in some esoteric or theoretical way. Nope. I know that love is real, just like I know the sky is blue, because Cj is with me and every single day I experience real and honest love. If I talk about God, it’s because He gifted me with an earthly angel whose wings carry me through this world. Again, it isn’t that the bible or a priest tells me about God, it’s because He has shown me that heaven isn’t only a place we go to when we die; it’s also the tie that real love creates. I know that Heaven is real because, really, I experience it every day.

So, I am grateful for my wife. I am grateful that she shares her love with me. I live through a luxury that few get to know: I can say that I share a love that not even death can erase.