On this 49th anniversary of my wedding, I am taking note of how Love looks at this stage of the journey:

• it is honoring each other’s rhythms of waking and sleeping
• it is helping the other look for the things that have been lost–glasses, the keys, the list you just had in your hand
• it is taking the puppy for a walk together almost every morning
• it is reminding each other that this is the day that the trash goes out, the flowers need watering or the tax bill is due
• it is taking quick trips to the bakery, bagel store or coffee shop for morning treats
• it is sharing memes from Facebook with each other
• it is reading aloud from books that nourish and challenge
• it allowing the one with the most limber back on that day to unload the bottom shelf of the dishwasher
• it is laughing aloud at the jokes the other tells, no matter how humorous they are
• it is reaching those places behind where the other cannot reach to bandage, to scrub, to connect a clasp
• it is sitting with the other as a silent presence when there is grief too deep for words
• it is taking naps together in the late afternoon
• it is making tiny things into the “lark of the week,” like getting new passport pictures taken or discovering the way to get the destination without running into the President’s motorcade
• it is listening carefully to the words not spoken, that fill up the space
• it is talking seriously about the unknown ahead without undue fear or anxiety

And so much more. It is a gift,  a gift of Grace and Love. We are having a happy anniversary, and I am very grateful! And with e.e. cummings, as calligraphed by Corita, I am holding it with care.