Long-Term by Nina Tagawa

I wrote the poem below in the thick of winter. We just moved to a new place, and everything felt too much, too soon.

Despite it all, I find myself filled with gratitude: for my partner in life, for this life.

The privilege of a long-term partnership:

to be together in the mundane, the drab, and the droll of daily existence.

to see your loved one's face change with every season and still somehow see in his eyes the person you fell hard for all those years ago.

to move as one, in rhythm, to a dance that's a mystery to the universe but to you is second nature.

to be as you are, as he is. And meet at the end of the day -- aching shoulders, tired feet -- willing each other to do it all over again.

Because being together means you don't ever have to walk with only your shadow in the hottest of summers. Nor hear the quiet sound of only but a pair of shoes in the darkest of winters.

More than the blinding thrill or the dazzle of fireworks
together is the grounding joy of knowing where home is.