Reverb 10 - Day 14

Prompt: Appreciate. What's the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

I appreciate being alive. But this is a given and not what I want to write about today.
I appreciate E. His love, dedication, unwavering faith that I could battle back from the wreck in the hospital bed. He came every day and once school had started then every night to the hospital. He missed two nights - once to study for a big mid-term, and once because Ryan dragged and I insisted he go to a concert at the Opera House.
My first memory is my sister's voice but my first visual was my friend T smiling and asking "who's that?" and gesturing to the other side of me. I turned my head and there he was. I stared at him, the most goofiest expression, I'm sure, on my face. He was smiling. Someone once said when E smiles the world is a better place. So true.
E supported me through everything, when everything seemed so black. He stayed strong when I begged him to take me home because I was so scared and in so much pain. When I finally did come home, we sat together for the rest of the day. He made me a sushi dinner for NYE and together we drank champagne and watched The Pacific. He has been everything to me and more. He is my best friend, my shooting star, my geeky, smart-assed sarcastic softy. He has the softest heart and the most prickly shell. He is the brain and brawn behind Jenerick enterprises. I love that he was surprised at how much he loves having a dog and how jealous he seems that Higgs sleeps on my side of the bed. He knew my favourite stone was jade, so he went to Pacific Mall in the boondocks of Scarberia to find the perfect ring, and then showed it to my sister and Britt to be sure it was the right one. He asked me to marry him on the beach because he knew it was what I always wanted. I introduced him to my travel family and it was a mutual love fest. He is the perfect side kick and instigator a girl could have.
I never truly saw who E is until that moment in ICU. I never truly appreciated who he was is will be until that moment. He will forever hold the string to my balloon.
I can imagine a life without walking. I cannot imagine a life without Erick.