To Sakshee -
the woman who made me understand
what it means to really see someone.

I met you on a stage in New York. You were playing someone else, and somehow that's how I learned who you were - there was no hiding it, even inside another person's lines. I didn't know you yet. I knew I would.

We've traveled the world together - Egypt at dawn, India to walk the land you came from, the UAE to explore somewhere new on my birthday, Paris in summer. In every one of those places, you were the thing I couldn't look away from. Not because of how you look. Because of who you are in every room you walk into.

I got down on one knee in Paris. You looked at me the way you look at everything you love - all the way in, no part held back. I've been chasing that look ever since.

Then came Rayna. And I watched something open in you that only you knew was there. You held her the first day and looked at her like you'd known her forever. Because you had.

You are a great artist. A great role model. A great friend, daughter, partner. But the thing you do best - the thing I'll tell Rayna about when she's old enough to understand - is love. You love the way you do everything: all the way in, no part held back. Our daughter will spend her whole life knowing exactly what that feels like.
You are a great mother.

Thank you for New York. For every country we've stood in together. For Paris. For Rayna. For being exactly, completely, unapologetically you.

तिमीलाई माया गर्छु - I love you. Always.