A Beautiful Dozen Roses

Twenty years of marriage and you discover that the roses of every day bloom all around in a way they didn't in early courtship when they showed up long stem in a box.  The seamless invisible courtship of a heart that takes place in everyday life doesn't make for good television viewing or summer reading, but it satisfies and lingers long after the actual moment.  Today, I got up to wash the dishes (I'd fallen asleep on the couch and then gone to bed without so much as a glance towards the kitchen when my husband had woken me).  Half of what I would have to do had been done and he'd moved the laundry along.  These are the little things that weren't expected but made the morning easier. 

It's Tuesday and it was raining so I ran some of the garbage out, figuring the rest could wait until Friday when hopefully, the weather would be better.  Walking back up our long winding driveway in the rain, my husband pulled back into the driveway from dropping off our two oldest at the Metro.  He opened the door for me to get in and ride the rest of the way and took the remaining cans himself while I went inside to deal with the school kids who were finishing up breakfast.

Folded fresh white socks, a gassed up car, a birthday card for my sister and unexpected imported olive oil brought home from a gourmet vendor and a rub of the neck unsolicited while I'm doing the dishes, all of these are roses by another name.  Leaving to take the second flotilla of kids to school, "I left you the last diet coke."  A kiss goodbye and though he has left, I can feel traces of his presence everywhere in the house.   Grateful I'd made him lunch and laid out his things for easy pick up, I begin the next part of the morning. 

My daughters were coloring and dancing to Taylor Swift's Love Story and singing it full throttle and their little brother joined in.  It was a celebration (as they are five and three and two), of what a child sees when they see a fairy tale and all I can think is, "Oh honeys, you have only a snatch of the richness that is coming after that part of the tale, when the happily ever after unfolds."