43 Roses 

At ten years, we were

3,650 days since our 

first night in our first

house that became our first

home beginning our

first year.

So now, at Forty-three, we are

a roomful of vases filled with

different combinations of

dozens of roses,

and if there was a rose for

each day of every year

we’ve been together,

surely there would be

a field of roses that

stretched out beyond our reach.   

And to think that back when we started... 

we started with

more than more.

And back then,

long before the first anniversary,

there had always been roses

because roses were part of

my own history,

of my own growing up 

hoeing rows of roses, 

watching out for the thorns

that seemed to sneak up and snag you 

just to keep you honest, 

just to help you respect

what they were

(everyday) 

protecting. 

Way up above their sharp

and jagged guard

were buds and blossoms 

and bouquets-to-be, 

as commonplace to me 

as dandelions and weeds.

Simple really;

you take care of these bushes,

and they give you roses.

I learned to respect the thorns

along the way down each row 

and they seemed to respect me back

and were willing to share

their roses with me 

so I could share them with you.

We didn’t plan on measuring

our years in roses back then.

Sometimes we used to say

things like “it’s no big deal” 

when it was a bigger deal than

we really knew

or wanted to admit. 

We said “like” when

we knew it was “love,”

and we certainly had

no idea that we would,

eventually, 

need a bigger vase.

And eventually, 

a bigger table 

that seemed, at first,

so giant until we filled

it up and over the brim

with our own family

that grew like the

snowdrifts around

our cabin up in the mountains,

or like that wild rose bush

out in the field, or like that

bathtub filled with

bubbles and possibilities,

rusty promises and chimes of freedom, 

our freedom to start something new. 

And now we’re at 43 

after so much

change in a single year...

Perhaps the longest year…

perhaps not. 

There were some thorns

to be sure,

but this vase carries

far more roses than thorns.

More than more, 

when last I checked.

May 27, 2021