A Love Letter To Gwen

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we asked Patch readers to write a love letter to that special someone and let us deliver it. This is Dan Smith’s love letter to his wife, Gwen:

“I wanted to share with everyone how much I love my wife, Gwen. She has truly been my best friend, and I couldn't possibly ever express in words how much she means to me.

She has stood by me through 14 years of Army service, from the time I was junior enlisted, through becoming a non-commissioned officer, through commissioning as an officer. We've been through two deployments to Iraq, one to Afghanistan and one to Qatar, not to mention countless training exercises.

When she first moved to Colorado to be with me, we moved her over a four-day weekend. The very next day, I went to the field for two weeks. I came back for two weeks, then went to the field for three more weeks. Not a month passed before I then had to go to the National Training Center for a month. Then, we had a month to ourselves to get married and have our honeymoon before I was deployed to Iraq for a year. And that was only the beginning.

It's not just the support she has shown me when I have been deployed, managing our house and our two beloved dogs on her own, but the small everyday things that make me truly love her. Like the way we have our own words and phrases like ‘moogled all up.’ The way that we are able to solve tough problems together. How she likes to keep all of our recipes organized according to our patented (ha!) system, and helps out on our daily cleaning duties. The way she accommodates my wishes for pets: hamsters, frog guy, bioluminescent dinoflagellates and soon two new bird friends (Beaky and Feathers!).

We've become inveterate foodies and have eaten at three-star Michelin restaurants in Europe, but I love that we also look forward to meatloaf night, Jan's chicken casserole and sardines on crackers (with mustard). She wholeheartedly supports my love of baseball, and we've become great fans of the home team no matter where the Army has moved us, from the Sky Sox to the Royals to the Flying Squirrels to the O's. I love that she goes to games with me and cheers on our team. We've taken some fantastic trips together, and whether it’s through Europe or through small-town Kansas to see the world's biggest ball of twine, we always have great adventures together.

She puts up with the fact that I don't always take my shoes off at the door, that I don't load the dishwasher right, that I like to make up my own songs and that I have been known, on occasion, to snore (okay, it's a lot). Even though sometimes I drive her crazy, she gives me love and support continuously (sometimes with a few choice words!). It takes a lot to put up with someone who likes to sing, ‘I'm a little Yorkie and I like to dance’ several times a day, but somehow she manages!

I just want her to know that she is my everything, and that I can't imagine life without her. She has been with me through some amazing times, some very scary times and some tragic times, but all these years later I'm still as in love with her now as the day we got married, the second best day of my life. She knows what I have said the best day was!”

--Dan Smith

See all Patch love letters here.

For next month's Love In A Small Town feature, we want to know: What place in town will always be a reminder of love for you? Whether it's the park where you had your first kiss or the restaurant where he proposed, email your story to locallove@patch.com for the chance to be featured. Get more details here.