This is the place where it all began. The place where all his feelings came quietly creeping up on him in the midst of all his problems. This is the place where he met an extraordinary woman, a woman so different from the rest that words cannot even begin to form into his mind about how this woman can be so perfect in his eyes.
When he married her, he believed that this was the woman that he loved. He believed that even though other women, other things would tempt him, he could deal because he loved his wife and their 4 kids. He believed that trough and through, with all their problems, that they would come out okay. Because they loved each other. Because love conquers all. That was, until there temptation.
No, she wasn't a sin. By no means was this woman a sin, something that he was tempted by and someone that he could fight off and he would never think of her again. She was strong and so very different than the rest. She had self-respect to the highest level, and didn't parade herself around like some $2 whore. She had values to obediently follow by and not even he could deter her from breaking her values. This woman was deep, and strong. Intelligent and street smart. She was everything.
The day she walked into that building, was the day his life had changed. Of course, he didn't know it at that moment. But it did. When they were introduced, he felt something small, nagging at him. He chalked it up as sexual attraction. He just needed to get to know her more. She was potential for a good friend. And then they got to know each other more, and more and more would he think about her in the hours of the day that were devoted to his family. In the night he would think of her, and how all of her imperfections made her even more beautiful.
Even though the words never left his mouth to any other human being, he loved her. Deep in his heart he loved her from day one for who she was, for what she stood for. As cliché as this sounds, he loved her for being herself and for making him feel content. When they were not at work, he would think of their moments during the day, how she would say something quirky and that comment would stick with him the rest of the day, constantly replaying itself in his head. And every time he would think about that one, small, comment that she had made, he would smile. He would feel all warm and fuzzy inside because of her capabilities to humor him. He loved her because of her.
He loved her because of the way text messaged. He loved her because she was confused by rapid text until he taught her how to use it. He loved her because of her inability to say tongue twisters three times in a row. He loved her because of all of the mistakes that she made in her lifetime. And most of all her loved her because she was simply herself. Without her now, he wouldn't know how to function because she helped him get through a bad day. She was his Tylenol for his pseudo headache. He needed her.
It is different now though. He doesn't talk that much to her anymore. Eight years later and they have less and less to talk about, but he still loves her just the same. He thrives on the moments when they have a civil conversation that isn't just about the weather or how the kids are doing. Sometimes, once in a blue moon they talk about them. They talk about their partnership and the problems in their life. They sit with coffee and try to figure out what when wrong without talking to the about it. He wonders why they have become so distant and why its so hard to not have fight about something once a day. Its their opinions that collide. What they think is right and wrong and what lies in the unknown territory of gray. But, in the end he loves her and he knows that's all that matters. They'll work their problems out and everything will be alright.
Maybe, one day he'll have the guts to tell him that he loves her. And to list off all the reasons that he does. And then maybe, one day She'll be strong enough to tell him that she loves him too.