Nicola.

If someone offered to engineer me the perfect woman for $1000, one who would delight and fascinate me, but also challenge and shake me from any smug complacency I might be mired in - I'd laugh a hearty laugh in his face, keep my money and spend it on a comfy reading chair and a couple rinds of brie. See, someone meeting all those descriptions already exists, and she's all the woman I could ever want and more. I want nothing else than to please her, and in the process learn new things about ourselves and each other.

Lifetimes spent together don't have to stagnate. With work, with a sense of delight, with true love and nurturing, they can blossom and take deeper root in richer soil than the most fulfilling solitary existence, and sprout up stronger and healthier than most couples will ever know. This is what I dream about, the part of me that still dreams after all these years, the part of me that won't die even in this world of metal and tears. Two lives shared as one, made happier by association than either could be alone. Nicola, I love you.