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Sunday, December 16, 2012

Amazing Door

It's our anniversary. We've been married 23 years, together for 31. I can hardly believe it, except that it's so undeniably true. As if to confirm this, my husband is headed off to his usual drop-in volleyball game tonight, and I am headed back upstairs to glue my fingers together at the collage table. Later, yes, we'll have some wine, perhaps, and eat those amazing chocolates I got at The Garlic Press, with flavors like chili, lime, ginger,  passion fruit, and balsamic, er, yes, vinegar mixed in. "I'll try anything," I told my husband. Little did he know.

Today I was with people attentive to one another--listening, comforting, being kind. They reminded each other about goodness and beauty and ways through the wilderness. Here's this amazing door, for instance. 6 Rue du Lac, Brussels.
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17 comments:

  1. KimDecember 16, 2012 at 6:27 PM

    congrats on your anniversary! And on being willing to put yourself out there in many ways. love to you and your family.

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  2. KathleenDecember 16, 2012 at 6:29 PM

    Thank you, Kim. I keep hoping most of the ways are hilarious. But some of them make me cry.

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  3. Marcoantonio Arellano (Nene)December 16, 2012 at 7:00 PM

    Sometimes happy things make me cry. I'm happy for you and your wonderful corazon.

    Gongrats mi amiga.

    Gracias!!!

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  4. MaureenDecember 16, 2012 at 8:04 PM

    Happy Anniversary!

    Those chocolates sound divine.

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  5. DaleDecember 16, 2012 at 8:16 PM

    Hugs, dear. A marriage is a different world, after 30 years or so, isn't it? I don't think many people understand how different it is, especially people who have loaded long marriages with all sorts of fairy tale meanings. As if we're in a perpetual loop of the credits rolling after a hollywood romance movie. Just outtakes now, folks... but when you get pretty confidently to "so this is the person I'm going to wait for death with" you're in a landscape that's much different, scarier in some ways: you're up against your own and up against their limitations in a way you can't even imagine when you're in the early years. I'm glad to be together still, 37 years later; but it is not much like anything I anticipated.

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  6. KathleenDecember 16, 2012 at 8:29 PM

    I can hardly wait, Maureen!

    And I can wait patiently and lovingly a long time, Dale!

    Thank you both!

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  7. SarahJaneDecember 17, 2012 at 3:35 AM

    Congrats, Kathleen! Wish you more chocolatey anniversaries.
    (That is a gorgeous door.)

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  8. KathleenDecember 17, 2012 at 6:42 AM

    Thanks, Sarah!

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  9. Hannah StephensonDecember 17, 2012 at 7:36 AM

    Congratulations!! A very happy anniversary to you both. Enjoy those chocolates (yum--all the different flavors sound fantastic, actually!).

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  10. PearlDecember 17, 2012 at 9:05 AM

    happy anniversary!

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  11. KathleenDecember 17, 2012 at 9:28 AM

    Thank you, Pearl!

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  12. CathyDecember 17, 2012 at 4:35 PM

    "A marriage is a different world." -- Oooo, my new favorite quote! What an amazing thing to say, but yes yes yes!!

    My fingers are all gluey too. Do you want to hear the story? Oh well, I'm telling it anyway.

    When I came in to work Sunday, the Xmas tree had toppled over, taking many, many, many little baskets of fragile Xmas ornaments with it. Glass angels. Bling Santa Clauses. Xmas tree pickles.

    But nothing broke, except the battery-powered golden Lucky Cat (Maneki Neko) who'd been waving at Incoming from beneath the branches of the phony Xmas tree by the door. When I opened the door Sunday morning, there he lay, face-down on the floor--golden ceramic skin broken in three parts, batteries rolled under a cabinet, mechanics graphically exposed.

    He sacrificed himself for the Angels. And for Santa Claus, and pickles, and all the other Ornaments. Bless him!

    So I superglued Maneki Neko, though it meant supergluing several of my fingers as well. Also gluing myself to some rather immovable furniture. I would be glued to the sales counter still, except, knowing I needed to get the ladder and find a permanent home for our Protector, I wrenched my fingers free, and wrangled the ceramic hero onto a very high shelf, next to the portrait of the Actual Real Cat named Kudo who, while he lived, used to be the angel of the store.

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  13. KathleenDecember 17, 2012 at 6:43 PM

    I love your story, Cathy. And I hope Dale sees how much you love his comment. Be sure to visit his blog, too! He's a wise and gentle man.

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  14. MollyDecember 18, 2012 at 12:03 AM

    That is a totally amazing door. Perhaps my new favorite door in the whole wide world.

    Reading this post -- your anniversary, the volleyball & collages, the chocolate; then people being attentive to one another -- this was/is a bright spot for me today and this week. Thank you so much.

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  15. KathleenDecember 18, 2012 at 6:52 AM

    I'm glad, Molly. In the midst of all this, I keep remembering Raymond Carver's story, "A Small, Good Thing," which I also re-title in my head as "The Baker and the Boy." People coming together with small acts of kindness--in what can also be an ugly, scary, mean world--to comfort each other and bring tenderness, healing, and nourishment.

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  16. ron hardyDecember 18, 2012 at 1:22 PM

    Vasko Popa said, "In the palm of one hand now the rain falls. From the other the grass grows. What can I tell you." May the mystery go on and on Kathy. Congratulations!

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  17. KathleenDecember 18, 2012 at 1:30 PM

    Thanks, Ron. To quote from a musical comedy, "Marriage is a very good thing, though it's far from easy...Still, it's filled this house with life and love." (Piano music plays on in my head.)

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