Forever Love — For Shannon

*This is a poem written by a person I love dearly: a person who has shaped who I am today. As some of you may know, I lost my mother a few years back, but a role model that I have in my life, in her passing, lost his soulmate and wife. Here is his tribute to my late mother. Love you, Dennis.

——–

You find your forever.
Your forever person.

You feel it in your gut—
a quiet certainty
you can’t explain.

Your mind drifts constantly
to the future.
You wonder…

Does she feel it too?
The same pull,
the same knowing?

You sit together.
You laugh.
You dream.

Isn’t life a dream?
A dream that started
long before we understood it.

Time moves on.

One day she says yes.
Yes.
She really said it.

Two lives become one.
Two families become one.
A little single-wide
across from the Time Out.

Simple days.
Good days.

We loved.
We lived.
We discovered a kind of love
we never expected to find.

We raised each other’s children.
We grew together.
It wasn’t always easy—
but easy was never the promise.

Somewhere along the way
we stopped being two people.

We became one—
one loving force
moving forward together
through every challenge.

We were love.
We were unity.
We believed
we would never part.

Ever.

But ever
comes sooner
than you think.

And still—
even now—
you remain
my forever.

Shannon.