The Gold of Happiness

How mesmerizing the index of afternoons

You remember the first?

Bare floor

Goose chilling

Glasses at the ready

Eyes locked

Distance gradually reducing

Our first kiss

Afternoons progressed…

Bike rides through the park

Occasional stops at the coffee shop

Coffee and muffins

Then there was…

The planning

The details of venturing cross country

New York the goal for one with city memories

One with anticipation of a creative freedom to be realized further

The mid-afternoon stops along the road

Hungry for organic anything

Stuck with fast food aplenty

The New Jersey motel

The writing in the morning

The trips to Manhattan in the afternoon

The looking

The dismissing

The final choice

The mid-day signing of a lease

Our own loft

Our own…

Damn…

A lot to make it our own.

But…

We did it

Enjoying many months

And after afternoons of deciding

On to Oregon

Arriving on another afternoon…

We’d found our home of homes

The woods at our backdoor

The garden for food

The flowerpots giving the eye peace

Birds giving solace to the cacophony of the past

The patio for late afternoon sunsets

Ah…

The piece de resistance

The bedroom devoted to the chinchillas

Your children

Our family

How sublime to have such memories

That denounced the drought of past sadness

Knowing future additions of time together

Would deliver even more rewarding afternoons

Where time would continue to impart the gold of happiness