A Decade

Manfriend has returned to life!  The weeks preceding his arrival were filled with imaginings of the moment he'd appear.  As he drove away in July, I was relieved that I would never be so far away from him as I was at that moment - the last glimpse of his shaved head over the leather in the Volvo had passed.  Each minute after that was bringing us back together, which felt comforting.  I savored the idea of my alone time with New York, always finding new things to explore and love, always with the backdrop of Manfriend to color my days.  But then the moment arrived - I peeked  my head out of my apartment building - but felt more trepidation than excitement.  This was the first time in our decade of dating that we'd spent so much time apart.  Would it still feel the same? 

In truth it was very much, those first few hours, like Quentin Compson had come to stay.  Not in the suicidal-in-love-with-one's-sister kind of way, but more in the you've-lived-so-long-in-only-my-mind-and-words-and-now-you're-really-here-and-want...wanton soup?!  It took a solid 24 hours for the desire to poke him to subside (think kindergarten, not Great Britain) just to be sure he was really there.  What does one do when confronted with so many new feelings, many of them confusing about one's soon-to-be-husband?  Drink wine, of course, and lots of it! 

  We ventured up to the Hudson Valley to try some wine.  Mother would have been proud of all the local farm folk we met and sponsored.  Most of the wine was underwhelming at best, save a few gems.  Benmarl had a view that must have assured the colonials that yes, they had found paradise in the new world, and a deep, musty wine cellar in which to bury one's drunken enemies.

We also stumbled upon a distillery that looked much like what one would look like were Dad to turn our pole barn into a moonshine still.  I loved the mud and the barn cats - Manfriend loved the whiskey. 

All of the nostalgia I feel while on the East Coast solidified that I had made the right choice in returning home.  Nothing out west easily allowed me to feel connected to my family and the kind of person I want to be - in every changing leaf I project the way our children will be raised, what our home will look like, and how Manfriend and I will ring in the next celebration of another decade together.  It's impossible to take the luxury of future plans for granted - reminders abound in the Empire State.