For a girlfriend or boyfriend
Open when you need to hear I love you
You asked me once, half joking, how I knew. I did not have a good answer then. I do now: it was the Sunday you fixed my bike chain with your hands covered in grease and then made pancakes without washing them first, and I thought, oh, this is the person. I love that you hum when you read. I love that you remember the names of everyone's dogs. If today is a bad one, read this twice and then call me. I will pick up.
Yours, on the good days and this one.
For someone far away
Open when the time difference feels too big
Right now you are probably awake and I am asleep, or the other way round, and it is the worst part of all this. So here is something that does not need us to be on the same clock. I still keep your hoodie on my chair. I still check the weather in your city every morning before my own. The distance is real, but so is the plan, and the plan ends with one address. Until then, this letter stays in your phone for every night it gets loud.
Seven hours behind you, and counting down.
For a husband or wife
Open on our anniversary
We said our vows in front of everyone, so this one is just for you. This year was not easy. The move, your dad, the month neither of us slept. I watched you carry all of it and still leave me the last of the coffee. I do not say it often enough, so it is in writing now: I would choose you again, in the hard year, without thinking twice. Dinner is booked. Wear the green.
Still the luckiest person in the room.