Quddus Michael....mi amorcito

I should tell you every day of the week to remind you that i love you. i didn't at first...you were unruly, had no taste in words and liked to shock more than awe people. my parents liked you--you were "edgy" my dad said. i couldn't understand.

it turned out you weren't really that person, you liked to sit in your chair and listen to classical music, had embraced neruda into your soul, and liked to draw creepy pen drawings in your moleskin notebooks (they had to be moleskin--there was something about the texture). i fell in love...not in the romantic sense, but in the i cannot bear my life without you sense.

So, i'm making a list of the things related to you that i love...since you love lists:
1. that red sweater (but i will never say so again.
2. you have never failed to come when i needed you most. this puts you on a list of fewer than 5 people who i am endlessly devoted to for their loyalty.
3. the fact that you find beauty in the smallest and most imperfect of things.
4. your *insert word stronger than devotion* for sahar....
5. the way you make tea and the way you wrap your fingers around the cup like it were a sacred chalice.
6. your ability to fit seamlessly into wherever you are--even when you think you don't belong

Happiest Birthday from one of your biggest fans....