anniversary

tuesday marked the third anniversary of the day i met my wonderful wife, mama x. some people mark their wedding anniversary (which, in our case would have been our second, on 11/20 i think). oddly we prefer to observe our first date, on 12/2 because we like the numbers better. this year, we decided to forego any expensive gifts in favor of a lovely new rug in baby d's bedroom, which i thought a little strange, but was happy to go along with. you see, dear reader, i had already been planning for a couple of weeks to make her a native american totem painting, which wouldn't cost more than $20 in materials. it was to be a turtle, a native american symbol of feminine power, health, and longevity. it was intended to be a healing totem.

mama had a scheduled trip to boston on the day of our anniversary, and with a sickling baby, it was decided best that d and i not travel with her this trip. though i'd sorely love to see boston at christmas time, i also had planned to work on her anniversary gift while she was away. my efforts were delayed by yet another day when mama's flight was cancelled on sunday, so i had only two days to complete the project. it's difficult to work on such a project with baby d awake. he's a very insular, introspective baby sometimes, but he whats what he wants when he wants it (like mama?) and i spend a lot of his waking hours reading to him, or spinning things for him, or feeding, or changing...the list goes on. in short- i had only the boo's sleeping hours to work on it. so in twelve hours over two nights i threw myself into measuring angles and swinging arcs and fine detail painting with very small brushes. i mixed colors in bad light. my back hurt and my hands cramped and i'm grumpy without adequate sleep, but i got it done with two hours to spare before mama got home. two hours i used cleaning up the house and preparing a tasty dinner for her.

mama predictably arrived exhausted. she saw the totem painting on the kitchen table, thanked me for it, and then changed into slouch clothes and turned on the tv because that relaxes her.

and that's fine. really. i don't need or expect gushing thanks for a painting on our anniversary. the painting was my way of thanking her for how hard she works every day to provide for me and d. to thank her for being a thoughtful and loving partner. to thank her for being my wife.