On this day, 6 years ago, I made the journey back home after living out of state for about 7 years. Even more significant, it was the day Lisa and I reunited after being separated for over a decade. She picked me up at the Manchester, New Hampshire airport on June 27, 2011. We were both nervous. For the longest time, I couldn't look her in the eyes. After grabbing my luggage, we went to York, Maine to walk the beach. She had packed a picnic lunch that we ate on a bench overlooking the Nubble Lighthouse.
A year later, to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of that date, we stayed at a hotel on one of the York, Maine beaches. We walked the beach. Enjoyed a scrumptious seafood meal at a local restaurant. Visited The Goldenrod to purchase their famous salt water taffy and peanut brittle. We ordered room service that evening.
Fast forward to today. Lisa took a vacation day. I had a work deadline to complete. While I sat at my desk completing that, Lisa did some housework. At one point, when I was focused solely on work, Willa managed to grab one of my fabric dolls and chew her apart...hair and all. After picking up the mess and vacuuming and adding that doll to the pile of fabric-dolls-in-need-of-repair-compliments-of-Willa, Lisa mowed the lawn.
By 5 p.m., I had met my deadline. Lisa was done mowing the lawn. We were both a little whipped. Before taking a shower, Lisa shooed the kids out of the home office. She sat on the love seat. I was at my desk. Lisa patted the cushion beside of her.
"Come here for a minute..."
I complied. We sat there for a few seconds and exhaled. She took my hand.
"I didn't buy you flowers today or a gift. We didn't get to spend the night at a hotel on the beach. We're not having lobsters and steamers for dinner."
I giggled. I knew none of the above was going to happen. It had nothing to do with Lisa's lack of planning or mine. I didn't buy her a gift either nor did I spend hours in the kitchen preparing a gourmet meal.
Lisa continued...
"What we are going to do, after I take a shower and you enjoy a glass of wine, is order our favorite Chinese takeout. We're going to eat on the sofa while watching one of our TV series on Netflix. We'll recline so all of the kids can snuggle with us. I'll make a fresh pot of coffee. Dessert will be the Magnum Double Raspberry Ice Cream Bars. Our favorite. And, I'll rub your feet."
I exhaled.
"That sounds like the most perfect evening to me...."
I meant that with every ounce of my being.
Our life, over the past 6 years, has changed considerably. We have 4 pup kids and 1 Guinea pig kid. An overnight trip to the beach is not an option. We now consider what we spent on our meal 5 years ago completely ridiculous. For that amount of money, we could buy almost a dozen lobsters, when they're on sale, and enjoy lobster all week!
I squeezed Lisa's hand and leaned my head on her shoulder. We both exhaled.
The life we have now is the life we wanted and talked about during the many conversations we had while I lived out of state.
We've had that life for a few years now.
We're there.
A minute or so later, we could hear all of the kids barking at the closed door. Lobo was sniffing the tiny space between the carpet and the bottom of the door.
I looked at Lisa.
"Are you ready?"
"Yep...let 'em in."
I got up and let the kids in.
Our evening went as planned and it was pretty great.
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