ONE YEAR.
One year, and forever to go.
After 31,536,000 seconds, I can officially say that I have fallen more and more in love with you within every single one of those seconds—and that's a whole lot of seconds. The last year has been mind-blowing to reminisce on and to think of the number of accomplishments we have both been successful on, both within and out of our relationship. You know, there was a time when I thought that I had no chance with you, I thought that you were instantly going to keep it as friends since our relationship as friends was great, although we didn't talk as often: but we still had our often conversations, walk to class in the morning early, and even greet each other throughout the day which I love to believe is exactly the basis of who we are together now. We were just independent individuals in high school trying to figure life out and sure, we had out experiences before our hearts started to entangle within each other's, but those are experiences that shaped each of us. The girl that I would stare and easily get hypnotized by just staring at your eyes with your eyelashes just flaring with boldness screaming, and of course the outfits that we still talk about now like that red top, that purple long sleeve, the red champion hoodie, your student IDs, discovering that our middle names are practically the same, the Rolling Loud outfit, the homecoming dress, your shoes, your dream shoes of the time, your corduroy pink jacket, your mischievous hair experience, our McDonalds meal, the history study guides, our chisme times, the whole prom conversation of which bus to take and paying for each variable of the adventure, asking for gum, walking to brunch together before we departed into our "clique", complimenting each other's outfits, the very thorough observing you've done on me, having an eye out for you, and much, much, more. Believe it or not since the first moment we met each other I had that spark of what we could be, and look at us now, from having that last conversation at school, before departing into our own directions with nothing but you on my mind as I headed home. Where did that lead? Well, look at us—embarrassed or not, I am able to have your gorgeous wrapped around my arm as we go through every adventure together, every physical and metaphoric plane traveling to different countries and discovering ranging escapade.
At school, the very place that I would agree is the beginning of the love story that we will be able to tell our kids in 15-ish years. There were hundreds of memories that we both have, that I know we can both remember and reminisce on as we indulge further and further into our connection and divine relationship. But even within the last twelve months, the last year, the last 31 million seconds, the last 365 days, we've found out a lot within each other: unearthing things within each other that may have never met the light of earth or met the public ear, as it should. In my perspective, learning about your family (my in-laws) and being able to hear them and learn about them 25/8, no matter the day or the hour, I am constantly able to hear them and learn how they may have influenced you to be the incredible woman that you are now. In other aspects, learning about the various parts of your brain and how you live life in a way that is like no other, constantly knowing that you are seeking happiness because, frankly, you don't have the acceptance of negativity while maintaining independence. Having you explain to me the story, over and over again, of your life/childhood, and how you got here in the United States, in a no-name city—with all the puzzle pieces falling exactly in places that Big G and the guardian angels were wanting.
Nevertheless, there are tons of memories that I remember vividly and I've never truly taken the time to list them out, so as grammatically-incorrect this may be, I am beyond proud to demonstrate the life we've had in the past year in words that I know will not be able to represent the excitement and growth each moment provided us with: learning about Marley; your desire to travel; volunteering at Kaiser, and learning about it all; your energy drinks; my father-in-law that I know is very proud of his daughter; your secret love with Japan, and sushi; Vans; Triller; Musical.ly; flannels; Circle K; walking to school; your air max 97s; your prom dress and the indecisiveness behind it; that random picture that you took of our shoes; FELON's and the whole design aspect behind it (including the handcuff design); telling you about Notify; playing HQTrivia with you; the full FELON preview video; your first top that you were obsessed with, white off shoulder; your gold sparkly iPhone case; listening with the AirPods; asking about Goat v. StockX; curling your hair; never seeing you without your falsies on; hearing about your hours-long routine for makeup; your blue chill jordans; your bralette videos; learning about Lisa and working with parents by sleeping over their houses to watch over doggos; the receipt we made each other full of songs for one-month; the Philippines, your friends, how to spell the country's name, your halloween costumes, your "not knowing how to smile" smile, your style, your big teddy bear, your siblings (the sister and brother), the "hi im kiana de leon; pimp"; our first vows on July 13th, 2020; sleeping nearly every day during the afternoon/evening; those mirror pictures outside and asking for suggestions on the song title, not enjoying the song I chose at that very moment, but look at you now; learning and celebrating national girlfriend's day even though you're my wife; all the iconic curly hair videos (the very very first ones); going to the sanctuary wearing the calabasas windbreaker and sending me tons of videos, with obviously the weird things that happened there; taking student ID photos with our initials on (good time to ask for senior ID, pleaseeee); three months posting the video you sent me from the sanctuary; your pouty face; giving you the FUCT shirt; the uzi necklace from BohoMoon; your queen-sized bed in your bedroom; taking pictures of you going mimi; meeting marley; having excitement of taking ceramics; playing among us together; playing call of duty together; showing me your tiara; cuddling with corrrr; your birthday, your flowers, your strawberries; my birthday, your visitation, our kiss, meeting your grandmother-in-law and sister-in-law; the FUCT hoodie; showing me the clothes you had from my father-in-law; putting the butterfly clips on your lips; that one hair sticking up as you were falling asleep; your teddy bear jacket; showing me what lumpia to get; your obsession over boba; your siberia hills/sailormoon hoodie; your off-white 4s; grabbing your neck to kiss you; the toks we made when I was still "damian" or "damian p"; the transition from snapchat to imessage; saying "i"; saying "sheesh" when things were getting spicy; six months video; drinking water all the time; all the flowers/bouqets; stopping by for some McDonalds and meeting your father-in-law and mother-in-law; that one time you came over and your mother-in-law was in the living room but we were still kissing galore; finding small businesses and spluring on them; doing work (i had to mention it); taking those pictures in front of the mirror with the 4s and the sailormoon hoodie; your wearing my chain; getting those pictures of you in your cheerleading uniform; playing with dry ice and soap; face masks (skin care ones); "rock my hoodie until you get my chain, rock my chain until I get you a ring"; thanksgiving outfit; love for earth tones; getting drunk with each other during holidays or just random; our halloween shenanigans; watching our first movies; watching all various decades of movies; the first promise ring; our first christmas; going through our first holiday's together; santo nino; you setting up the christmas trees; hearing your pee for the first time; your glass coffee mugs; your double-layered kanye hoodie; watching sunsets together; looking at the christmas lights with you; going to the houses over here full of christmas lights (which will probably never happen again because they sold the house); your love for VHS-style videos; rapping to me with foil on your teeth; "magic in the air" fragrance; ari by ariana grande; chanel no5; your unas; walmart jeans; vintage shopping; depop; grailed; getting tiktok; watching you cut veggies and cook inside the kitchen; testing me on what each cabinet holds; talking about painting your room; talking about why you guys chose that house; your portable charger and always shining the light into my eyes; turning every image red; crumble cookies; boomf box; snakes; drawing hearts on windows; "your boyfriend brought you snacks"; blue roses; hello kitty birthday cake; hello kitty box; "his and hers"; "someone had fun w me letting him pick for the 10 for $35"; jellycat; your "early thanksgiving dinner"; your participation in school events/plays; you constantly saying "stop" when I took facetime live photos; learning about crystals and getting you more crystals; etching our initials with leaves outside; your favorite blanket; your weighted blanket; taping your nose; baby powder candles; shadow writing; the reassurance you've written me; butterfly necklaces; 500s; your purse; graduation pictures; polaroids; your puffy jackets; random toks you've made; amac dunks; beanies; giving me a pen from your jacket chest pocket; getting the fence made outside; asking for opinions on your eighteenth invitation; taco bell; your spirited away hoodie; drawing tattoos; your blue headphones; making your own top; your new iphone; "'im in love with you, not your body' and he actually showed me tht:)"; crystal necklaces; cleaning your makeup brushes, working at bow wow; making your bed; always wanting cuddles; freshsends; home depot; seeing you "without lashes" for the most part; kissing in front of the car mirror; your valentine's day candle; napa; feeling love that nobody has even given me; aguacates; 90 days in bow wow; krona lane; calabasas crewneck; supreme crewneck; your first discord call; random dance moves or shaking your butt; hanger in your mouth; "fanks"; spotify playlists; getting your vaccine; reading "into the wild" and "where the crawdads sing"; bunny marley; drawing dresses; shopping sprees; juicy jacket; tons of snackies at shields; life360; turning on notifications for different places; tuned app; spotify premium duo; disneyplus; hulu; forget me nots flowers; "777"dunkin and bank of the america; cheesecake factory to krona lane; logging into your accounts for the first time, saving nearly every photo/video; tiger cherry; all our anniversaries; "sorry had to rehydrate after that dry text"; keeping a list of all the different questions I've asked you; trying to never bore you; growing obsession with you, and your feet; cleaning every wednesday; matcha; minecraft; netflix; yearbooks; your ceramic creations; sharing pj's; hydroflask; chichis; graduation dress and soooooo much moreee. I know I missed like millions of other memories that I will forever be thankful and grateful for, because you baby, are a very very unique and special girl and I know that you don't need me to say that for you to know that. You deserve the world and much more than that, and I'm here trying to give that you.