Hayden, It kills me that we can't spend our one-year anniversary together. It kills me that you won't be able to tell me "Happy Birthday!" It breaks my heart not being able to buy you a birthday or Christmas present to spoil you.

However, even though you're over 6,800 miles away from me, you never fail to make my heart melt.

You always manage to make me smile and make me feel like the only girl in the world. I'd do anything to know the next time I'll get to see you and hold you. I'm so thankful to have you in my life and I have your family back home to remind me even more of you. I love them almost as much as I love you.

I thank God for you every single night. I pray for you multiple times on a daily basis. You've shown me so much about love and about myself within the last 10 and a half months, it's crazy. You've shown me that my voice matters and that my emotions are valid no matter the situation. You've shown me that it's OK to not be OK, it's OK to lean on someone. You've given me so much self-confidence that I didn't have prior to meeting you.

You're my bestest friend. You make me so happy and make me feel so loved.

Going into my senior year and stressing about college without you by my side is really hard. It's hard knowing I can't just call you when I'm having a bad day, because it's 2 a.m. where you are and it's 12 p.m. where I am. I know you miss me as much as I miss you. I know you'd be home if you could.

Throughout the day, I listen to songs that make me think of you. "Nothing Like You" by Luke Combs is one of my favorites. "I've seen California and the fields of Oklahoma, From 30,000 miles above, can't beat the view, crossed the Mississippi, watched the mountains over Tennessee become a Carolina sky that was so blue, and still ain't seen nothing like, nothing like you."

It makes me cry every time I listen to it, but it's worth it.

Anyway, I miss you more than anything in the world and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us as a couple and as individuals. I love you mostest, Hayden Graves. Thank you for everything you do for me and for sacrificing your life for strangers. If you'd die for a stranger, God knows what you'd do for me. I can't thank you enough and this article doesn't do justice for how crazy I am for you. The Navy can take you away from me, but it doesn't make me love you any less.

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