There are times I catch a glimpse of him. The one I first fell in love with. How I’d do everything in my power to find a way to ‘accidentally’ walk by him in the school hallways.
He was a senior and I was a freshman. It would take him returning from college his freshman year and visiting the high school gym during a basketball game to finally notice the shy sophomore who played flute in the band.
And as they say, the rest is history.
Thirty-five years later there are moments when John still makes my heart swoon just like the first time I laid eyes on him and his piercing blue eyes.
Late yesterday afternoon as I sat on the sofa reading a favorite blog, I heard him come in the back door and heard the sound of something being set on the floor. He said, “I made you something today.”
Not recalling having had asked for anything I said, “You did?”
Thinking he was teasing me, as he often does, like a cat, my curiosity got me. I got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen to investigate.
Just as I came around the corner, he popped up from being bent over and was holding two birdhouses and with a grin like a little schoolboy proud of his accomplishment.
I ran to him and hugged him as tight as I could. That guy I fell in love all those years ago was making my heart swoon all over again.
I don’t even know how long ago it was. Years perhaps? I had the idea of wishing to put up several birdhouses along our lot line. I’d asked if he would build me some. But as life can often go, he just never had time to get around to it.
The past two weeks he’s been working hard in our home office putting together remodeling estimates hoping that when the ‘safer at home’ is through he will have clients who wish to go ahead with their projects.
In between, he has been cleaning up his office when unbeknownst to me he found the paperwork buried underneath other paperwork for building two types of birdhouses. One for wrens and one for bluebirds.
And just like that, he built two houses and one more this morning.
So today is the day after researching where we should place them in our yard for the best location we will install them on our property.
This…this is what I lean into during this uncertain time. This…this is what it’s all about and I never want to forget what this time during COVID-19 is teaching me and how my heart just keeps expanding and expanding until at times it feels like it will burst.
And I forgot to mention that the favorite blog I was reading was sharing a video of connecting with their farm animals, which brought tears to my eyes. I’ve been feeling especially acutely right now the absence of an animal companion in our home.
So all the more special this moment was when John lovingly presented me with the birdhouses that made me squeal with joy!
xo,
Barbara
