eleven hundred days: a retrospective

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the earth much? 

Have you practis'd so long to learn to read? 

Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems? 

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poem

--Walt Whitman

We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond.

--Gwendolyn Brooks

So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.

--Paulo Coelho

we are good at a lot of things, and getting better every day.  one thing we are not great at is taking pictures.  but i have all these snapshots stored in my brain, envelopes full of mental polaroids...

the envelope marked first date would have pictures of the teenage girls who complimented your beard on our first date (remember how long it was!), of us eating breakfast tacos at the farmers' market, of the grin i couldn't wipe off my face for days afterward.  

in those earliest days, there are pictures of a flock of wild turkeys, trails in the woods, rivers we swam in or drove across, funny little diners and fancy little diners and splitting whatever chocolate thing is on the dessert menu.  meeting family, meeting friends, meeting all the other people who are important for us to know--collages of cousins, kin, co-conspiritors--all those faces we love and who love us.  pictures of road trips--of monuments and moments, of menu screens for podcasts and menus for new things to try, stories and backstories, laughter and tears, learning something new every single second.  

we have packed and cleaned and moved and cleaned and unpacked and repacked and cleaned and moved and unpacked...a lot.  no photo album would be complete without a picture of us changing out the fan in our bedroom, or painting miles of walls, or brushing sawdust off of...everything, assembling boxes, sorting through what to keep and what to throw away, sharing advil and icepacks and snuggles and snores. 

there would be a picture of me sleeping, and a picture of you watching your zombie shows on Saturday mornings, pictures of the dog and cat whining and hissing at each other from opposite sides of the baby gate, pictures of us making dinner in our impossibly tiny kitchen, me watching you watching football or you watching me count stitches in my latest attempt to be crafty. 

all these moments, tiny snapshots...they sparkle and glitter and shine.  i continue to be utterly amazed and grateful that i get to share them with my beloved. 

mil besos,

rmgj