Team Us

This is the third poem in the All the Ways I Love You series—one poem a day as we count down to my husband’s birthday, celebrating the partnership we've built on and off the court.

We started on sand—
barefoot, laughing,
learning the rhythm of one another
in serves and sets,
in small mistakes and second chances.

You were my teammate before I had the language for it.
We stumbled at first—
misread signals, too-wide hits,
the ball dropping between us.
But we learned.

And God, did we get good.
Not just at the game,
but at us.

Because it wasn’t just beach volleyball.
It was partnership.
It was reading each other’s pace,
trusting the instinct to dive
even when no words were spoken.

We moved that energy
from the court
into life.

From Vancouver to Australia
and back to Calgary—
a stopover,
a build site,
a launching pad.
We gathered friends like driftwood,
made a fire from every connection.
We built homes,
and futures,
and income streams
in languages neither of us grew up speaking—
but we taught each other how.

We became teammates
in business and dreaming,
in packing and unpacking,
in risking everything
for something better.

And no matter where we land—
new coast,
new court,
new city humming with possibility—
you’re always on my side.

The love between us
is not delicate.
It is loyal.
Loud.
Bigger than whatever tries to break it.
Built not just to last,
but to carry us forward.

We serve.
We spike.
We hold the line.

Team us.
And we’re undefeated.