A great Valentine's Day

Last Tuesday was a pretty special Valentine's Day for me. The first big good news was that I got my CT results and everything looked normal. It was 2 Valentine Days ago when I had some suspicious bumps in my neck. I didn't tell Susan about them because I didn't want to spoil the day. But inside I was worried that there might be some trouble brewing in my neck. A couple of days later I went to the doctor and started down this fun trail called living with cancer. So to be demonstrably more healthy in 2012 than 2010 was certainly a great part of the day.

The other really awesome part of the day was getting some original art as a present from Susan. Every once in a while - usually to commemorate some milestone in our lives - Susan will write some original prose or poetry. I can do nothing like that and to me it's always an amazing gift when she creates one of these pieces. Here is the gift I received this Valentine's Day. Read this and you can see what a lucky guy I am to have such love in my life and have it expressed so beautifully.

The Perfect Man

I tried to make the perfect man

of clay and hair and cloth -

I pulled his limbs

long and strong, 

smoothed his head 

into a faultless shape to lock out all unhappiness.

I lit him with a match.

His eyes kindled,

And he listened, really listened.

He always got his proper nouns right

He had no bumps and bruises,

Didn't need to figure anything out

or fight because

he had everything he needed.

But he had a problem - 

He couldn't say anything that I hadn't taught him,

He didn't know anything that I didn't know.

His heart had not been cracked

By terrifying fate - 

he had no grace or courage,

having endured no hardships.

He wasn't you.

I shelved my statue

and forgot about him,

to seize our love, in all its craziness.

I exploded with

wild happiness, grief,

broken skin

unbridled laughter

unexpected white truffles

the cat's paws in first snow

the scent of an unimagined shore.

to George with love from Susan

Valentine's Day, 2012