associated in random thought

and everything is sort of new.

i wish i had more words tonight. the clock has just pushed forward into another day. day five of 2007. (when do we stop counting?) there are so many stories i have yet to tell, mostly because that proverbial well is still dry. but since smoking cessation was not a resolution this year, i'm sitting on the porch with a cigarette and my lappy. and i promised myself that i would not go to sleep tonight without saying something.

so here is that something.

it's pretty safe to say that the last few months have been amongst the most stressful of my adult life. grief and drama and drama and heartache, with an added dose of illness. 2006 chugged along at a sluggish, unforgiving pace, and helen and i learned, a little more deeply, the meaning behind the vows: in sickness and in health. in good times and bad. we make these vows to each other daily, and though they are not binding by the state of texas, they have bound us to each other.

we have cried a lot this year.

on new years day, just after we dropped my sister off at the airport, we drove to barton springs together. for non-austin folk, barton springs is a spring-fed pool extraordinaire. it keeps itself at a constant 65 degrees year round. and so, it keeps itself full of swimmers year round. in the summer, it serves as the best air conditioning ever. in the winter, however...holy shit it's cold.

oh, but adversity has never stopped helen and me. on a brisk, sunny afternoon on the first day of the year, we stripped down to shorts and bras, and jumped into the freezing deep pool together, hand in hand. and when my feet touched bottom, my body humming with cold, i knew the new had begun.

we emerged screaming expletives through chattering teeth, and laughing. and then we climbed out of the water all goosepimply, and spread out our towels on a grassy hill. we basked until we were warm. and then we went home.
Posted by bananie at January 5, 2007 12:29 AM | TrackBack