F O R E V E R

Some promises are not made because tomorrow is not guaranteed. They are made because love chooses tomorrow, every single day.

Forever…one of the easiest words to say, yet one of the hardest promises to keep. We use it so casually that we often forget the weight it carries. We promise forever in moments when everything feels effortless, when laughter comes naturally, when the future looks beautiful, and love feels untouched by reality. But I have come to realise that forever is not a promise made for the good days. It is a promise made for the ordinary days, the difficult days, and the days when love feels less like a feeling and more like a decision.

If I ever tell you that I want forever with you, I am not promising a perfect relationship. I am not promising that we will never disagree, never disappoint one another, or never grow tired of each other. Life has a way of changing people, and maturing is realising that we will become older versions of ourselves. We will carry scars we do not have today. We will face losses, disappointments, and moments that will test everything we thought we knew. Forever does not ignore those realities. It accepts them before they even arrive.

I do not want to love only the version of you that smiles the brightest. I want to love the version of you that feels like giving up. The version that questions whether they are enough. The version that overthinks every little thing and apologises for taking up space. The version that cries when nobody is watching because they do not want anyone else to see them falling apart. That is the version of you that deserves love just as much as the one who laughs without worry.

There will be days when you wake up and no longer recognise yourself. Days when life feels heavier than your own strength. Days when nothing seems to go according to plan, and you begin questioning your purpose, your abilities, and even your worth. On those days, I do not want you to wonder whether my love has changed. I want you to know that my love was never built around your best moments. It was built around you. Not your achievements, not your appearance, not your success, but you.

I want to be the kind of person who reminds you that you are still worthy when the world convinces you otherwise. The kind of person who celebrates your victories without making your failures feel like they define you. Someone who listens before offering solutions, who chooses understanding before judgement, and who stays present even when there are no perfect words to say. Sometimes love is not found in grand gestures. Sometimes it is simply found in someone refusing to leave when life becomes difficult.

One day, your hair may carry more grey than black. My face may tell stories that only time could write. We may not move as quickly as we once did, and our dreams may look different from the ones we have today. Time will change many things about us, but I hope that it never changes the way we choose each other. Because I do not believe forever is about remaining the same. I believe forever is about continuing to choose the same person through every version they become.

I know there will be seasons when one of us is stronger than the other. I had a conversation with my mother, and I asked her what made her marriage last, and she said, “There will be moments when you carry your partner, and moments when your partner carries you. That is what partnership looks like. You are not meant to be strong at the same time all the time. Some days, love looks like laughter over dinner. Other days, it looks like sitting together in silence because words are too heavy to find. Both are equally beautiful because both remind us that we are not alone”.

I rarely talk to my mother about relationships, but the one time we decided to, she dropped gems.

(Back to my forever)

If the day ever comes when you doubt yourself, I hope you never doubt where you stand with me. I hope you never feel like you have to earn my affection by pretending to be someone you are not. You should never feel pressured to hide your fears, your insecurities, or your flaws just to remain lovable. The safest kind of love is the one that allows people to be honest. It is the kind of love that says, “You do not have to perform for me. You can simply be.”

Forever is not measured by how exciting love remains after years have passed. It is measured by the quiet decisions that nobody else sees. It is choosing patience instead of pride. It is choosing forgiveness over resentment. It is choosing conversation over silence. It is choosing to reach for your hand after an argument instead of allowing distance to become permanent. Forever is built in ordinary moments that never make it onto social media but quietly become the foundation of a lifetime.

So if I ever tell you that I love you forever, understand what I truly mean. I mean, I will celebrate the days when life is kind to you, and I will sit beside you when it is not. I will remind you of your worth when you forget it. I will believe in you when your own confidence begins to disappear. I will choose you when choosing becomes difficult, because love that only exists when life is easy was never forever to begin with.

Maybe that is what forever has always meant to me. Not the promise that life will never change, but the promise that even when it does, my heart will continue finding its way back to yours.