Our anniversary was great. Our first year of marriage was even better.

Next year, I want to have more three-hour long meals with Adam. Many more. There are far too few of them in our lives. You should come over. We’ll share them.

And next year, I kind of want to build a table.

What I don’t remember:

-What I ate for breakfast that day
-How I got to my parents’ house
-If it was hot out
-What music was played at the reception (with a few exceptions)
-What food was served
- How the cake tasted
-What booze we drank
-What was said in the toasts
-Who won the bubble blowing competition.

I do remember:

-Who caught the bouquet

(it was Cassie)

-Who judged the bubble blowing competition.

(it was Hannah)

-That kiss

-Laughing with my dad
-My mother’s face
-Adam
-The dancing
-How I didn’t feel nervous. Not one bit.
-Feeling really at home with all those people around I love so much.

One year. It’s been such a year.

The air doesn’t smell like flowers anymore, or leaves or young grass.

-The book I’m working on is getting to the point where it feels like work, the point where I have to push through and sweat it out and tap my pens on my paper a lot. But I like that.

- After a hot day, I sprawled out in bed beside the fan and read late into the night. When I finished my book, I was still too captivated by it to sleep. I hovered between living and dreaming for a while, and found myself remembering smells that I had long forgotten. For a moment, they were as real to me as ever before, as were the memories around them. And in that remembering, I made a bit more sense to myself.

-The book I read was The Idiot. I don’t think I’ve read anything better.

-When it’s too hot out, I tend to feel sick and forget to eat.

-Adam is at the dentist.

-It is nice to have no internet in the summertime.

I love this part of summer. The breezy dresses. Sleeping sprawled beside the breeze of a lazy fan. Staying up late with friends. Drinking outside. Eating outside. Being sweaty. Long days. Slow walking. Ripe berries. Sweat peas. Reading too much. Music on the streets. Cute girls biking. Cute boys biking. Too hot to cook. White wine. Cool showers. Sitting on the porch. Let’s get ice cream.

Summer in early July is a freshly ripe vegetable.

What is this time of year like for you?

I feel like Adam and I are taking these great little steps. My writing is inching along in quite beautiful ways*, and Adam is moving in the direction of Industrial/Product Design school. Yup! I am proud and excited. Financing all this will be an adventure, so send your prayers our way, friends. It’s an adventure I’m looking forward to.

Until then, we’ll go on learning to recognize
what we love, and what it takes
to tend what isn’t for our having.
-Li-Young Lee

Amen.

*Let me know if you’d like to help me edit the first 37 pages of my next book. I need all the help I can get.