Love and Companionship

Celebrating Twenty-Three Years Together

Today Charles and I did our daily quest walk. This is where we go to local stores where Charles has found us deals on foods we eat. We went to Farm Boy for beans, and minced turkey, Massine’s for eggs, margarine, and Kowloon for a Chinese white radish, lemons and Granny Smith apples. We clocked over five kilometers on a mild and sunny day in early March. We didn’t stop for coffee today, but yesterday we sat out on the Art House Cafe porch and drank Americanos while reminiscing about our first days together back in March 2001. When he came into my life, I was home, finally home, and I have felt that way ever since. Here we are back then, photo taken at our first apartment together.

If you are lucky enough to find people who will be your companions in life, who will save you from death, who will commiserate with you over the difficult times, try to solve them with you, play Backgammon with you, even though you can’t count, cook delicious meals that take into account your various health issues, enjoy your random playlists of thematic and whimsical music, binge watch medical drama tv shows with you, stay home rather than travel the world, share your values, including a belief that love can be infinite and abundant, rather than finite and scare, sit in an office and companionably work on their own projects while you compose poetry or Substack posts, listen to you rehearse for an upcoming reading over and over again, let you cry in their arms when you are plagued with the anxiety of what will happen next, sit with you in ER while you are curled up in pain or vomiting every hour, pass you another vomit bag, wake up early with you and rush outside in the sunshine, grow grocery store mint and radishes and garlic, enjoy your sandwiches overflowing with vegetables, eat one piece of chocolate a night with you, avoid the chips and high carb items that you can’t eat…if you are lucky enough to find kindreds, hang on to them, nurture them, give them love.