i bought a new

refrigerator a couple

of weeks ago

to replace the one

that had been

fixed twice and

was still leaking water

all over my floor.

a few days before 

it was delivered

i looked at the

old one and 

realized i needed to

clean it.

both the inside and the outside 

needed cleaning

so i removed the

photos, wedding invitations,

recipes, and hand-written

lists of things

liz

wanted me to do

around the house

or pick up from

the grocery store.

and then…

underneath a magnet,

behind a torn piece

of paper with

an e-mail address and 

phone number from

the past, there

was the card, 

included with some flowers,

that i had

asked the

florist to send to

her

back in september 2007.

i was in india

at the time,

on another business trip,

during what would

be her 30th and

final birthday.

…

the new fridge

has been delivered

and the old one

has been removed.

many of the things

on the inside have

been thrown away.

but the stuff

on the outside…

the photos, wedding invitations,

recipes, and hand-written

lists of things for me

to do, are

on the new one.

and so is that

card.