happy birthday, my love!

your 75th year

took me back to when we were first wed

and your dad

being 50

seemed so old!

 

i teased him

calling him “half-a-century” old

and he reciprocated

when I turned 25

by calling me a “quarter-century” old :))

 

writing this story

reminds me of my luck

because

not only did i win you

in the wedding

but i won them, too.

 

how well we loved

each other.

 

how well

we love

still.

 

P.S. Our kids gifted me a kayak trip to Santa Cruz Island on your birthday, in the Channel Islands off the coast of Ventura. This poem outlines many of the places I saw you that day. 

Happiest of birthdays, my love. Thanks for sticking around in your own special way.

 

I Saw You There

In the bold, craggy raven,

in the wildness of a thousand dolphins,

in the second kayak seat–unfilled,

I saw you there.

 

In the things that went right,

in the things that went wrong,

in the old guys on motorcycles,

I saw you there.

 

In the couples at The Lure

out for Friday night fish,

and in the spirits I drank on your behalf,

I saw you there.

 

In the three men playing cards,

in the center of nature

whom I nearly asked, “Do you mind if I sit with you and watch?”

I saw you there.

 

This last one

made me cry.