It’s a funny thing, the way life works out.

Blaine and Kurt lived in New York for several years after college. Blaine missed Palo Alto, but he knew that New York was where Kurt really wanted to be and Blaine could handle that. After a few years, they adopted a daughter and named her Elizabeth.

After becoming parents, they realized that all they wanted was to be closer to their own families and to have Elizabeth grow up with grandparents and cousins. So they moved back to Ohio, where Blaine took a job as an elementary school music teacher two towns over and Kurt was a stay-at-home dad and did some freelancing for fashion magazines.

Blaine often felt overwhelmed with joy at how easy and simple things became as he got older.

Everything wasn’t perfect, obviously, Elizabeth went through a tantrum phase, Kurt would leave every light on in the house and Blaine always forgot to call if he was running late. But it was all so minute compared to the happiness.

Blaine had a nightly ritual. At first, Kurt thought it was weird and Blaine could tell it made him kind of uncomfortable, but Blaine couldn’t help himself. He wanted to say something more than “I love you,” he wanted to find something beyond “You are my world.” He ended up on settling for two words that almost conveyed what he felt. He hoped Kurt understood.

Every night, after they turned off the light and curled under the covers, Blaine would say, “Thank you.”