"I wrote this for a very dear friend a couple of years ago. I was her maid of honor and she asked me, almost a year prior to the wedding, to write a poem for the program. I went into a slight panic since I have some difficulty writing poems about romance. As you may or may not have noticed most of my poetry involving love is about losing it or the pain it can cause rather than finding it and the happiness it brings.

After several months and several discarded attempts which resulted in me wanting to vomit after rereading them, I came up with a rougher version of this poem. I then spent an equal number of months agonizing over every nuance and, with some assistance from my father and sister, eventually sent my friend a couple of versions (only minor differences) and told her she could pick the one she liked the most. This is the result.

Thank you, Shawna, for giving me the opportunity to challenge myself and for being such a wonderful friend all these years.

(And thanks to my family for their valuable input and for putting up with my stubbornness and my need to over analyze.)"