20 memories
3 people squeezed on a school bus seat
riding home from Clambake
each skinny, saying
I’m sorry my hips are so big
♡
lying on the floor in Hedge
someone offers us a second pillow
we decline
our fates are sealed
♡
driving through the Maine woods
you at the Wheel
of the Spirit of ‘76
then waiting patiently
while I learned harp
♡
walking to a hardware store
at the counter you said
we need a wrench
I grinned –
we existed
and you knew
how to fix things
♡
getting used to
grey striped Peruvian blankets
forgetting that they itch
♡
first backpacking trip
unable to lift the pack
I thought
I can’t do this
after a day camping off in the woods
Gary Snyder running through my mind
deciding
we could live this way forever
♡
our sleeping bags on Mount David
you me the cold stars joy
♡
migraine in the middle of the night
I called you, scared
you walked to me in the dark
and held my head
♡
1993
EMS gave us free trees
we illegally planted on Green Mountain
our oldest descendants
♡
standing in the field
watching dozens of herons
on their nests –
found magic
♡
puppy Chavo
one soft ear folded forward
tail unsure about curling
red collar so loose about his neck
head tilted
listening
♡
on the Molehill
in the dark
a bottle of wine
a perfect proposal
punctuated by skunk spray
♡
starting our honeymoon
taking the backroads
to Pennsylvania in August
‘84 Subaru
no AC
who else but us
does this?
♡
in the stillness of Lenin’s tomb
my glasses case snaps shut
the AK-wielding soldier
is not amused
when we escape
we can’t stop laughing
♡
riding ponies in Mongolia
nothing but land and sky before us
hours later, back at the ger
muscles so sore
we must strategize
about how to
lie down
♡
staking out your bike at Macky
then seeing our house
knowing it was right
♡
crying each time
we met our
perfectly beautiful
healthy strong
sons
♡
standing on the broad top
of Longs Peak with you
twice
feeling safe
♡
finding Elk Lake
after all those years
sleeping as far from roads
as a Coloradan can
♡
you standing beside me
for three funerals
and all that came before them
♡
there’s no way to fully catalog
you + me
no way to save
every miraculous kindness done
or extraordinary experience shared
I have no doubts
the next score of years
we’ll love being together
even more
