359/365

some things I genuinely love about ward:

puts so much love into the coffee he makes each morning, I swear I can taste it

has lines around his eyes that crinkle when he smiles therefore reducing me to a pool of love

made an atlas of the fifty states at age nine, drew each state on a different page and upon completion, took it to his school library and put it on the shelves with the rest of the books on states because he thought, well this is where books on states go

has a deep, deep love for art and will discuss it at length with anyone, any time, any place

has a deep, deep love for music and will discuss it at length with anyone, any time, any place

is not afraid of new generations of music and, in fact, welcomes them with the most open of arms 

sends me pictures of the sunrise when he's taking ezra to school in the morning

is always up for a road trip, always (I mean always)

is always up for a movie, always (I mean always)

is my biggest, most passionate, most genuinely enthusiastic cheerleader

loves star wars more than any person I have ever, ever known

is a bonafide master at mixtape making, listen, I'm telling you his skill level in this area wholly unmatched

does not really care about sports

builds bonfires in the backyard that roar and crackle for hours

is really committed to this beard thing (no but seriously I do love the beard)

truly appreciates a legit book store and/or library as much as I do

will pull over (in a nanosecond) whenever I ask him to for a junk shop, a produce stand, a fleamarket, an old sign, some magic light, what have you

will drop whatever he is doing when you tell him you've lost something and look, tirelessly, endlessly, until he finds it

tears up when someone tells him how much their kid loves one of his books

makes a mean plate of scrambled eggs

makes a mean stack of pancakes

is just so incredibly good, so, so incredibly good at being a dad

gets as excited as I do about different birds we see in the yard

brings me coffee in the morning and tells me I'm pretty

(happy 51st birthday to my most favorite man in the world, I love you I love you I love you)

277/365

things we did today on september third, our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary:

packed up the car
flew down highway 65
drove over bridges, past bayous
checked into the hotel where we spent our honeymoon twenty-five years ago
drank champagne in the courtyard next to the fountain where we once drank as newlyweds
walked through the french quarter to dinner
ate plates of jambalaya and red beans and rice at the place where, supposedly, napolean was meant to spend his exile
wandered back to our little hotel
swam beneath a canopy of magnolia trees and night stars
wandered over to cafe du monde 
ate hot beignets near midnight
got powdered sugar everywhere
wandered back to the hotel
drank the very last 
of the champagne

158/365

things that happened on this day, twenty-nine years ago:

decided I liked this one guy
let him kiss me
fell in love

(we were babies)

fifty, celebrated

five decades, a fraction represented here. yesterday: this guy, fifty. we celebrated big and there are stories to tell. 

well, I asked

me, after dinner: "so, what should I write about tonight?"

ava: "slurpees."

ezra: "define slurpees."

ward: "love. you should write about love."

ward: "talk about trump. you love trump."

ezra: "you should also probably write about how I'm almost done folding all these paper cranes."

ava: "polygamy."

ward: "make one of your lists. you should make a list of um, movies."

ava: "toilets. public toilets."

ladies and gentlemen, this be my monday night. 

summer twenty seventeen (three)

favorite summer photographs, part three, fini. part one here, part two here and now, in retrospect, I am certain I underestimated summer twenty seventeen.

summer twenty seventeen (two)

favorite summer photographs, part two. part one here, part three on deck.

it's entirely possible I underestimated summer twenty seventeen. 

summer twenty seventeen (one)

in between my inexplicable (or, in some cases, absolutely explicable) summer melancholy, there were good times. really, really good times.

this is part one of a three-parter, folks. a three-part love letter in favorite photographs, dedicated to all the times this summer I managed to sidestep an electric undercurrent of anxiety and find my way through to the good times.