How I knew

I love you

for your foolishness, and your ability to give everything you have

the way that you eat everything in sight, and the absolute lack of sleep

the drive that keeps your world turning

even when you think you will fall apart.

I love you 

because of the poetry you have hidden in the notes of your phone,

and the small songs jotted down in your notebooks

the way that you dance when no one is around 

even to the way you cry when you think no one can hear you

I love you

even when you lost the one thing you lived for 

especially when you fought so hard against your sadness

My admiration for you only grew,

when you finally realized your life had purpose without someone elses stagnance

I love you

for the flaws that no one has ever dared to know

when you give out 

but how you never give up

for your "always am, always will be"

and finally... for you.

I hated you.

Every inch of you

for so long.

Now looking in the mirror, at the woman you have become

I can properly say I love you

without feeling any shame.

How did I know, they ask

the answer is simple

the moment that I decided to live for myself and not for anyone else

Is the moment I started to love 

the woman

reflected back at me