The love lives on. Taya Kyle took to Facebook on Monday, March 16, to post an emotional love letter to her late husband Chris Kyle.
The widow shared her "Letter to Chris" in honor of the couple's 13th wedding anniversary. Beginning the note, "Hey babe," Taya went on to tell the deceased military sniper, "I miss you and I love you. I feel you in my heart and soul so strongly. I am more blessed to have been your wife than anything else in my life."
"Today, I am thinking of our new relationship, when you rented a boutique hotel room in San Diego and surprised me with 2 dozen long stem pink roses when we arrived," she wrote. "I knew then I was the luckiest girl in the world to be with tough, romantic, loving you… I am thinking of the way you loved to blow the budget on gifts for me with that huge smile on your face and eyes lit up… so much so that my heart would leap out of my chest as I was simultaneously shocked and delighted even when I had no idea how we would afford it."
Taya wed Chris in 2002, welcomed the couple's school-aged son and daughter, and was married to the vet until the day that he died on Feb. 2, 2013. The famed sharp-shooter, who inspired the box office smash American Sniper with his personal story and 2012 autobiography, was shot in killed by a vet with PTSD — the recently convicted Eddie Ray Routh — at a shooting range in Texas.
"Today, I have a choice," Taya continued, reflecting on her life without her love. "I can bury myself under the covers and acknowledge the pain of missing you and mourn the future anniversaries without you. Or, I can celebrate never having a day without you in my heart because you loved me enough to leave me a lifetime of memories and beauty. I am somewhere in between today."
"And if I didn't tell you enough in life, then let me tell you today… YOU Chris Kyle, are IT for me," she added. "YOU are the package deal who makes hanging on worth it. I loved you yesterday, I love you now, and I will love you all the days of my life. Thank you for marrying me, even if I'm the one who had to ask you. T."
Taya continued to fight for her husband even after his death. Last month, the activist and author testified in the murder trial concerning Chris' death, which led to Routh's conviction. Routh, who shot and killed Chris and his friend Chad Littlefield on their trip to a shooting range, is now serving life in prison.
While Taya continues her love story with Chris, the couple's journey, including Chris' time abroad, the birth of their two children, and finally the sniper's untimely death, was recently immortalized in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper. Starring Bradley Cooper as Chris and Sienna Miller as Taya, the drama was nominated for six Academy Awards and broke box office records, bringing in more than $517.3 million to date.
