ALEX AND JESSE: ONE KISS THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Where has the time gone? It seemed like only yesterday when we said our vows. When I look at you after all these years of marriage, I still see the same young girl I fell in love with. Nothing has changed. My love for you continues to grow.

My Alex, the love of my life, you were my friend, my best friend before you were my wife. Before I told you I love you, we shared something special, something that took my breath away. Our first kiss. That day has lived in my heart for all these years.

My Alex, our first kiss was memorable. It was breath taking. But our journey to that kiss was long and turbulent. You could even say rocky. I never complained. Do you know why? Because I was with you.

Every moment we spent together is a moment I treasured. From the many laughs we shared. To the times when you cried on my shoulder. I cried along with you. I hugged you when you needed me too. Together joined at the hip. Our parents always called us two peas in a pod.

We were never far from each other. Since we were babies, we were always together. The many pictures our parents have of us, there is one common factor. You and me my Alex always together.

The things we did together has me laughing all these years later. We made our parents angry. We made our parents laugh. We even made our parents cry. We were troublemakers, mischief-makers. We were so many things.

Our parents never knew what to do with us. They tried to keep us apart. They never succeeded. We drove our parents crazy. We played so many tricks on them especially our mothers.

I remember the time when you put itching powder in your mother's clothes. Oh, Alex she wanted to kill you. Or that one Halloween when you put spiders in you mother's bed. The things you did made me laugh.

You were always the one getting us into trouble. One crazy stunt after another. No one could stop us. Our parents tried but they always failed.

My Alex, we had so many memories and just the things we did to our parents but also of the many vacations we took together with our families. My best memory is when we went to the cabin. I love those times, catching fireflies, making s'mores and telling ghost stories.

Holidays were amazing.I loved giving you presents. I loved watching your eyes light up when you opened my gift. The look on your face was priceless. I still have all the gifts you gave me. I will never let them go.

To be a kid. To be your friend. To grow up together was special. Nothing about my love was fake. You were and still are the realest person. You never lied. You always told the truth. You were funny and still are funny. Your jokes were one in a million. You made everyone around you laugh.

During our many dance battles with our siblings, you were always front and center. I was a bad dancer but you never made me thing I was anything less than a good dancer. You lifted me up when I was down.

There were so many times when I felt bad about myself. But you made me believe in myself that I was the best at anything I did. You still do that now. You fought for me all the time. You were constantly there for me.

My Alex, you hated to see me sad. Like-wise I hated to see you sad. You were the life of the party making everyone around you smile and laugh and that one time when you were sad and crying, I was there to lift you up. I remember the day as if it happened yesterday.

My Alex, that day you say goodbye to your father. He went off on one of his many deployments. I saw you sitting outside on the bench crying. I rushed to you and gave you a hug. I told you to believe your dad is going to come home. You cried on my shoulder for a long time. We were thirteen but something in me changed. I didn't know what it was.

I wanted to kiss you. We were young. But that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to kiss your heartache away. I controlled myself because you were my best friend. I didn't want to lose you. I had to wait until you were ready, until I was ready.

Your dad did come home and our friendship grew. My feelings for you my Alex continue to grow. The need to kiss continue to grow. I continued to comfort you whenever your dad left.

I didn't know how you felt about me. I was your friend after all. You my dear Alex, my love continued to be the same person you always were. You were smart and beautiful and you still are. I could never keep up with you.

As time went on and we reached high school we changed. I felt like you were leaving me behind. You had so many people round you. I was getting lost among your new friends. I was the old friend among your many new friends. I didn't know what to do.

I stayed away from you to give you the space you needed. You didn't need me around. I watched. I watched to see how happy you were and you were happy.

I on the other hand found myself among the bad crowd. I was getting into trouble a lot. I wasn't going to school. My parents were furious with me. You looked at me differently.

I hated the person I became. I missed my friend. I didn't know how to get her back. I didn't know how to tell Alex my feelings for her. That decision was taken out of my hands.

One day Alex came to me. She was furious with me. She came to me, started yelling at me. Alex called me stupid and an idiot. She told me I was never going to amount to anything if I continued down the path I was going.

Alex was right. My life was going down hill. I told Alex she was right and I finally told her the truth. I said to Alex and I remember the words. I said "Alex, you are my best friend. I screwed up badly because I didn't know how to tell you, my feelings. I like you more than just my friend. I fell for you and I was scared to tell you."

I stood in front of Alex for what seemed like hours but only minutes passed. I was getting extremely nervous. I prayed I didn't ruined my friendship with Alex. Finally, Alex looked at me and what she said to me blew me away.

"What took you so long?" Me and Alex laughed. I grabbed her hand. She grabbed my hand. We looked into each other's eyes. I closed my eyes and I leaned into Alex. My lips touched hers. Finally, I got my first kiss with my love.

That kiss took my breath away. It was everything I ever dreamed it would be. After that kiss everything between me and Alex changed. I changed for the better.

All the good times, the good memories even the bad ones led to this one moment. My first kiss with Alex which led to my life changing in ways I could never have imagined.