I remember when we were separated only by a thin wall and a bedroom door. When we strolled through campus arm-in-arm. When, like small girls, we cuddled on the futon in our living room watching movies late into the night. She taught me how to frost a layer cake, and how to make jam. I introduced her to Ben Harper. We had all our lives before us then. No children, no laugh lines, no real worries to speak of.
Those were the days.
Or maybe these are the days. When we get together every couple of years, her in her bib necklace (because she stays up with the times) and me in my single strand of collarbone beads (because I'm stuck in 1999). Maybe these are the days, when every moment counts, when laughter comes easily, as if our lives depended on it, and crows feet proudly pop at the corners of our eyes. When our hearts have been tenderized by the mallet of motherhood. When we have both loved the husbands of our youth for over a decade. When we have gone back to school (twice), moved across the world, written novels, raised children we didn't birth, and watched friends fall by the wayside over the years to reveal those precious few who are here to stay.
Yes I believe these are the days.
And tomorrow is your day, Lou. Enjoy it.
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| Downtown Grand Rapids, summer 2016 |
I couldn't resist posting a pic of our daughters. Who could?
