A quick, simple pat on my knee tells me he loves me more than during those long-ago, lingering kisses parked in his Buick Regal after midnight outside my parents' home. He is one of the reasons I am a better person now than I was then. His easy smile lifts my proverbial clouds. His laugh makes me laugh at things I don't even find funny. On my worst days, his reassuring hug is the best thing that happens.

So many scoffed. Some even tried to talk me out of loving him. I knew then as I know now only God could be in control of bringing us together.

God showed me in no uncertain terms who my beloved's first love must be. Not me. That love had to belong to God. I also had to be content that God's plan for him might not include me, especially if that was not the case.

God did choose to merge our path's as one twenty-two years ago. He assured our first love was Him and then each other. Over the years, He has made sure we are not having our worst moments at the same time. Or somehow He tells one of us whose turn it is, and then the other consoles. That is why a quick, simple pat on my knee can say it all and more.