But no matter how much distance or how many months and years I’ve put between that morning and this moment, the ache for her remains. Even without her aware of it, my heart kept its promise. “Ask me in a year how I feel about you, and I’ll say the same.” That I’ve loved her every second, turned minutes into hours, becoming weeks, months, and years since I started inhaling militant breaths and exhaling my way through this mission.
