it was thirty years ago tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow, April 21, 2020, is our thirtieth wedding anniversary. In the course of our marriage we have lived in five cities and four states, Ginger has served four UCC churches, we have had eight residences, eight Schnauzers, and I have had five different careers. I have lost track of how many people have lived with us over the years. Thirty years ago, all I knew is I wanted to be married to Ginger. I had no idea what an incredible adventure it would be. The poem below is a revision of one I wrote a half a marriage ago. It still says how I feel.

signature moves

every so often, when I sign my name,
the person behind the counter says,
“that’s quite a signature,” as though
I’ve done nothing but doodle.
“no one else can imitate it,” is my answer,
“that’s what makes it my signature.”

my morning movements are as much
a signature as my recognizable ,
my hands act from muscle memory:
wash and trim the strawberries,
stand them up to slice, and then
spread them out like pages, and
ink them with the blueberries

the fruit sits on a plate we’ve had
as long as we’ve been married,
when I first began to work on a
new signature because my name
changed along with yours,
as we wrote something new together.

and then there’s your coffee:
mostly-milk-one-stevia-put-it-in-
the-microwave-for-one-minute-thirty-
seconds-before-topping-it-off.
my hands move with confidence same
as I show when I sign my name.

this is who I am.
this is who we are.

I can’t think of one without the other.
the daily mixture of fresh and
familiar, what is known scribbled
on the surface of each new day,
held together by a hyphen –
my favorite piece of punctuation.

We were supposed to see the Red Sox play for Patriots’ Day in Boston and then drive up to Maine to stay at the inn where we stayed on the first night of our honeymoon. Instead, we will stay home, probably watch Fever Pitch again, walk once the rain stops, and pick up some Mexican food. (Yes, Connecticut has good Mexican food.) It will not be the day we expected, but then again, we have lived a lot of days like that.

I am grateful for my life first and foremost because of the person I have gotten to spend it with. I love you, Gigi.

Peace,
Milton