I can still remember the happiest dream I ever had. I was about 16, and I dreamed that Richard and I (before he was BD, he was just Richard) were shoving off in a small sailboat. Somehow within the context of the dream I knew that this wasn't just a three-hour tour; we were sailing away into a whole life together. It wasn't the boat that made the dream so wonderful, or the blue water or cloudless sky. It was this delicious, soaring, heart-swelling feeling I had. It was the absolute certainty that our life together was going to be such an incredible journey if we could just ever, ever get to start having it. When I woke up, one hand was pressing down on my stomach so hard it was falling asleep, as if I were trying to hold myself down under the surface of sleep so I wouldn't have to leave that boat.
Today Richard turns 40, and he is still, ever and always, the man of my dreams. Happy birthday, BD. I'm all for you, body and soul.
