10 Years, and We’ve Always Known How to Begin Again
To my beloved,
So we’ve pulled it off—the plan to whisk each other halfway around the world for our tenth wedding anniversary album. Watching you fumble between adjusting my dress and setting up the tripod, choosing angles, running back and forth, juggling the roles of photographer and groom—how could I not feel a rush of tenderness?
Whenever anyone asks where you find your energy, you always say: from me. Together, we’ve weathered countless rough patches. Thanks to each other, even those evenings spent eating dinner under our leaky roof—raindrops drumming on the floor in a steady tung-tung-tung—never felt like a burden, only impossibly romantic.
It’s that same buoyant spirit that allows us now to watch the sunrise and sunset wherever our hearts desire. For this anniversary shoot, I chose a white dress. Looking back, most people were taken aback on our wedding day when the bride—me—wore nothing but a sea-blue gown.
I think colors can stand in for different seasons of life. Fresh out of my twenties, I was tender, naive, quick to tears; you, just turned thirty, still cradling lofty dreams. Our worlds were steeped in the fresh hues of hope. A decade later, I feel the white wedding dress suits me more than ever. That white is still pure, still delicate, but infinitely more mature. White is minimalism at its peak—the way someone fully grown sees through the path they’ve walked, are walking, and will walk.
Yet grown-ups in love still blur the lines of reason. I crack up every time I recall that morning we set our phone on a desert rock to film a keepsake, then hit the road. You drove 500 kilometers for five straight hours before I suddenly gasped: “Wait—where’s the phone?!” Only then did you remember it was still sitting on that rock. So we turned around, drove 500 kilometers back to square one, then pushed on another 1,000 kilometers through the night to reach our destination on time. Two fools beyond description, just grinning ear to ear.
Life throws us plenty of moments that demand a U-turn. You don’t flinch, and neither do I. How many times have we come within reach of the finish line only to decide to abandon that leg of the journey and circle back to the starting point? We’ve always been able to begin again. No fear! Because we know full well there’s always someone ready to stand by, no matter what. You call me your battery charger. To me, you’re my source of joy.
I’m not certain what the next ten years will bring, but I believe in the present we share.
If I could live one more life with all my heart
I’d want to be your personal shade of blue
If I could love one more time, undying from the start
I’d want heaven and earth to turn fragile for you…
