As he lay beside her, listening to the quiet rhythm of her breathing,
his mind wandered back to the beginning.
The first day.
The first kiss.
That first embrace that somehow felt different.
The dates, the dinners,
the little adventures that became memories,
and walking together through the rain,
laughing at nothing,
being wonderfully goofy together.
Everyone told him,
"She's a keeper."
He would only smile and say,
"I'm the luckiest man."
She was the Belle to his Beast,
but he never wanted to keep her in a castle.
He never wanted to hold her captive.
He wanted to watch her become
the extraordinary woman he already knew she could be.
He knew her job kept her busy,
that life could become measured
in hours, deadlines, and paychecks.
So he tried to remind her, gently,
that there was more to life than a paycheck.
Because none of us are promised tomorrow.
No schedule is guaranteed.
No amount of money can buy back
an afternoon spent laughing,
a rainy walk,
a kiss before bed,
or the sound of someone you love
breathing beside you.
And lying there beside her,
he realized something simple:
If life gave him a thousand chances
to choose it all again,
he wouldn't trade
a single moment beside her
for the world.
