Happy Sixty-Five!
When you are sixty-five
I will love you, differently
Than yesterday’s Joy
Swirling in the sandy leaps
Of all our grown children’s feet
each with their own new puppy,
unleashed
When you are sixty-five
I will love you, differently
Than last month’s Grief
Touching in on the unexpected
last exhale of our beloved old dog
on Christmas
When you are sixty-five
I will love you, differently
Than last year’s Uncertainty
Rolling in on test after test result
Knowing someday
it will be otherwise
When you are sixty-five
I will love you, differently
Than fifty-five’s grand Life experiment
Moving into to our sierra mountain
cabin, Not knowing the profound
vulnerability & awe the forest
would deliver
When you are sixty-five
I will love you, differently
Than our first daughter’s
Miracle birth & life shattering death
I will love you, differently
Than our first home resurfacing with
our sweat equity, anger management,
grief work, joy exercise
I will love you, differently
Than our first super date with sunflower
& golden gate bridge
When you are sixty-five
I will love you, differently
Each day I will love you not the same
As when I befriended you
As when I married you
For I promised to love
The evolving you WITH the evolving me,
Through whatever moments
of darkness and delight
that will come,
that will keep coming differently—
All the moments we have cried, cursed,
cackled, confused, couraged,
encouraged, calmed, created together
I promise to love the unfurling
As I rise each day to say Yes!
Yet again I say Yes! to Life WITH you
I will always love you, differently
With all that will come—
How I can ONLY love our life unfolding…
Loving with open palms into the changes
that WILL come—
That each & every new day brings!!
Today, Happy sixty-five!
Oh how I love you, differently
As Love IS Life—immeasurable!
