BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.....

(For My Soulmate)

By: Amy L. Chaves

Sept. 20, 2000

I am willing to accept you for all that you are worth, in the historical moments of your past, present and future. I therefore accept you for everything that you were, for everything that you are, and for everything that you will be.

I am excited at the prospect of doing things to make you happy, to please you, and to pleasure you. I am willing to learn newer ways to make you feel loved and cared for. In this context, loving you is both a process and a goal. I will gladly do things for you within the scope of my capacity and limitations.

I value and respect your uniqueness, your freedom and your person. I would not want to change you nor mold you into the person that you do not want to be. If possible, I would want to augment your freedom so you can be more of your self while loving me. I believe that we can only love each other in the context of genuine personhood.

I am willing to take risks, both big and small, for you. For me they are necessary if I were to commit myself to love you. There is no love without risks. I love you enough for me to open my world to certain risks that always accompany every love, every relationship.

I will  say "no" if it's going to hurt both of us or either of us. I will not allow either of us to experience resentment,  jealousy, pain or anguish if I could help it by saying "yes". Sometimes love must be tough to validate itself.  There are times that the most loving thing to do is to say "no".

I will give you the space necessary for your personal growth. That would mean allowing you to do things and to see things your own way. I will always bear in mind that you are an individual first, a friend next, and a lover last. I recognize this order of importance in my relationship with you. I will not demand anything from you which will disrupt your need to be an individual.

I will be transparent and honest to you, even if it might hurt both of us sometimes. You will have to trust that my intention is not to hurt either of us but to simply tell the truth when necessary.  If I hurt you in the process of transparency,  I will have to ask you to forgive me and still accept me.  This may be one of those times when I will need your love the most.

I will continue to nurture myself for both our sake. I will feed my mind, heart and soul with new insights, new learning, and new experiences. For both our sake, I will open myself to innumerable possibilities to make myself a better person.

I commit to love you, in fair or stormy weather, more so when there are dark clouds in the horizon.  I will walk hand in hand in the rain with you or climb some mountains when skies are sunny and blue and  I will share with you my warmth when nights are cold until the days when we grow old.

I will be faithful to you.  Fidelity is most easy because I love you.  I don't want any person to hold me and touch me except you.  You have my full loyalty such that even if I am in the midst of other people, I am and  will always be for you.

I trust you.  I know that you are not going to intentionally hurt me, that you will not humiliate me nor embarrass me, and that you will not leave me without a serious reason.  I trust that you will accept me for whatever I can become, and that you will always love me despite the changes that time can bring to mortals like me.

I will continue to write poems and articles such as this for you.  I will continue to be creative, intense, romantic, naughty  and  a tease for both our sake.  I would want us to have fun in life while still fulfilling our various duties and responsibilities.

Thank you, my soulmate, for loving me forever.  I am not sure if I could love you enough in this lifetime.  If there is another life after this, be assured that I will search for you and once I find you, I will still love you the way that I am loving you now, perhaps even more so.  I will know it is you in that other life because the soul never forgets.

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