Dream

The other night I saw you for the first time, though you have been a constant companion. I feel you inching closer every day, as distance recedes. I feel you slipped discreetly between one of those unexpected pages in a calender. But when the day had ended and was quickly reconfiguring for the next, when my eyes slumped and my mind wandered, you packed a tackle box into our old truck. We had plans for the day, all day, every foot of it. Even as we smilingly packed we were touching somehow. Small snacks, a cooler full of juice and ice and 3 apples. Eyes meeting over and over. Tailgait slamming, bets being made, "lawn needs to be mowed" "save it for sunday", then he advanced, anxious for his first trip to the lake. He had a small bear that was with him since we were with him. He was smiling bigger than us but for a different reason. The three of us were all that could sum up paradise in a small house that was older than the two of us together. But we knew one day we would have better. "dont forget the chairs" I went back into the neat garage for lack of extra and you followed me and I reached up. You reached with me and I felt what love is, what it should be, what we always look for in other people but need to find in ourselves first. Unending, unasking, uncomplicated. A certain flavor of joy that never fades and never leaves you unaccounted for.