When I first started dating Mike I was excited to see he had a front porch on his home. I love to sit on the porch and watch the birds, the clouds, the stars and just let time pass by. Mike put a lot of thought into the building of his home and property but due to the some of the stresses of his prior life in the military, Mike was uncomfortable sitting on the porch much. Originally he had one hanging plant in the porch with wind chimes and some candles. We would sit in the rocking chairs at first only a few minutes. In the past year I have introduced Mike to the wonders of the night sky and he has been teaching me the different bird calls to recognize and I have now seen birds I never saw before-a rose breasted grosbeak, a blue grosbeak, towhee and others. A year later we have purchased a love seat for the porch and have filled the porch with plants. Mike loves to be out there now and sends me texts and pictures of the different animals he sees in the yard while I am at work. It still amazes me what love can do when you first learn to love yourself first. It opened me up to trusting enough and being comfortable being a couple again.