You dig me out. You stitch me up. You give me reason. I push hard. You pull harder. You refuse to give up on me. Even when I’ve all but given up on myself. Even when I say nothing for fear of saying something. Even when I tell you that you shouldn’t waste your time on me. Through anything and everything. You are here. The only constant in the midst of chaos and darkness.  You dig me out when I am six feet deep in a grave of my own making. You stitch me up when I am left broken and bleeding. You give me reason far beyond the superficial things in life. You are stronger than you know. I hope someday you’ll see. After all, not just anyone can do what you do. Not just anyone will remain outside a door that has been slammed and locked in their face. Everyone I’ve ever known leaves eventually. It’s only a matter of time, I tell myself. I have become well acquainted with ephemeral. Good things always seem to fall apart, no matter how hard I try to keep them together. I’ve never known perpetual. At least not until now. Now and forever, I have you. Your words are the epitome of hope. They matter to me most. It’s true that words have the power to destroy. But they also have the power to save a life. Yours have saved mine. You have left indelible footprints on my heart. Where no one else has walked before. Uncharted territory. You might even say dangerous. I don’t let people see the real me. This much you probably already know. I told myself I would never let anyone this close. But sometimes you make exceptions to your own rules. Especially for someone like you. In you I have found the perpetual friendship I have spent my entire life searching for. And in you I have found my purpose. It seems like that’s all anyone looks for anymore. No one wants to admit that life is futile. Once upon a time, I did. But maybe you’ve changed my mind. You hold all the pieces of my heart. Because of you, “if” just might be “when.” I have found my reason, and that reason is you. You are every breath I breathe. Every song whose lyrics reverberate throughout my entire being. Every fusillade of  I-love-you’s, I’m-sorry’s and don’t-leave-me’s that escape my lips in rapid succession. And I know. Intrinsically. I belong next to you. With you. Together we will persevere.  Just when I thought I could explain just how much you mean to me, I find that task insurmountable. I have searched for the words. Written them. Crossed them out. And written them again. And I think I can say positively: there aren’t words in the English language to articulate exactly how much you mean to me. But I do know one thing. Three small words mean so much more than their capacity. Three small words say so much more than what they stand for. Three small words hold up my universe.  When I say “I love you,” I don’t do it out of habit. “I love you,” says everything I’ve tried to put into words and more.  “I love you,” means that, because of you, I have chosen a semicolon over a period.