Love

What a happy and holy fashion it is that those who love one another should rest on the same pillow. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Today is our 15th anniversary.  I'm in Nevada (coming to you live from the speedy internet access at my little big brother Enoch's truck wash) and Adam's in Seattle.

How did this happen?

When planning the trip it didn't seem like such a big deal.  "It's only a day,"  Adam said.  Only a day.  But it's a day I wish I was with my love. 

For he is my love.  Truly.

Here's what else:


1-I love every single thing that comes out of my mother's kitchen.

2-I love my brand new nephew Ammon Alejandro.  I think I'll call him Double A.  I don't know if it will stick.  He's tiny and precious. He appears to weigh nothing but when I was carrying him I felt like I was carrying something very weighty indeed.  Something priceless and holy.

3-I love that when Marcos woke up, disoriented and grumpy from his nap, he lay his sweaty body against mine and we rocked until he felt like facing the world.

4-I love making cookies in my mother's kitchen.  Using the same measuring spoons that I used when I was nine.

5-I love seeing the jumble of cousins spilling into and out of every crack and crevice at my parents' house.  They adore each other.

6- I love that Enoch had his employees fix my brakes.

7- I love that when Enoch needed to order the part for my brakes he called and asked my dad instead of asking me what kind of brakes I have.  He knows me.

8-I love seeing my baby sister, fresh from the rigors of childbirth.  Vulnerable and as tough as nails.  There's a lot to admire in that girl.

9-I love that Tabor made my mom laugh so hard at lunch yesterday that she spewed lemonade.

10- I loved Isaiah's succinct and matter of fact story about what happened to his pet toad.  "It got real sick and then it died."

11- I love that earlier Jennifer found the escaped toad in her kitchen and refused to take Enoch's advice to let it go outside.  Because Isaiah loved the toad.

12-  I love the 1/2 inch long braid Katie made in Ruby's hair.

13- I love that my girl and Marianne's girls have bonded with our cousin Margaret's girl who reminds me of Margaret in every way.

14- I loved seeing periwinkles on the early morning walk with my mom.

15- I love that my dad fixed my screen door handle and presented it to me as an anniversary gift.

16- I love driving with Marianne.  It seems really natural to be by her side on that road, again.

17- I love ice water.  (It's been in the 90s here.)


If you're reading this Adam (and if you're not, why aren't you?), I love you.  Happy Anniversary.

Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.

 ~Simone Signoret