Back log: A Birthday Medley
A birthday medley... From April
Every year of our short lives together, Rhodric and I have celebrated our birthdays together. This is not hugely inconvenient because mine is on the eleventh of April and his the twenty- fifth. Our first shared celebration was the 17th of April, 2009. We were friends and shared the party with another friend of ours. It was a grand party full of friends, joy and laughter, with a side of a teenage crush. This day at our party, our friendship was just tipping over the brink of a plain good friendship to a kind of love we'd only read about.
Every year of our short lives together, Rhodric and I have celebrated our birthdays together. This is not hugely inconvenient because mine is on the eleventh of April and his the twenty- fifth. Our first shared celebration was the 17th of April, 2009. We were friends and shared the party with another friend of ours. It was a grand party full of friends, joy and laughter, with a side of a teenage crush. This day at our party, our friendship was just tipping over the brink of a plain good friendship to a kind of love we'd only read about.
Fast forward one year exactly, April 17th 2010. We've had a whirlwind of a year and now know, at least we think we know what love means. We know the words "through thick and thin" but have yet to feel the meaning of them. I waited impatiently for Rhodric to get off work and come pick me up in his yellow truck that had fostered many tears, laughs, kisses, confusions and realizations. "This birthday together will be so different from last year." I thought as a packed us a picnic dinner. I had no idea how different. We'd been planning a picnic birthday for over a week, but when the rain rolled in that morning, Rhodric texted me, asking what I thought. Wanting to spend time with him more than anything, and wanting to impress him almost as much, I said we should go for and bring a tarp. Finally I heard the familiar rumble of his truck. We decided to go to the old seminary where his parents got married and we'd spent some time wandering. As we walk down through the garden to a little wilderness, the sun makes a determined appearance that graced us with a rainbow. Then I see something that makes me smile, but also disappoints me. Someone else already had a lovely picnic set up right where we were headed. It was picturesque. A well loved patchwork quilt, glasses and a bottle, flowers, and a lantern hanging from an overhanging branch. Then my love told me that that was for our picnic! "what a man! He did all this for my birthday! I feel dreadful for being displeased with him for being so late. I never knew he could be THIS romantic. I love him." I thought as I walked down and sat on the blanket. When I turned to thank, he was on his knee. Just like that. He told me lots of lovely things, the most compelling of which was the last, "will you be my wife?"
April 2011 we received a special gift. She came on Rhodric's birthday but she was for both of us to share and delight in. Gwenna Rose Sanaa, it means Blessed Rose of Brilliance. I will save her birth story for another post, but this I will say, the day our sweet girl was born, our eyes were opened to a new kind of love. We knew we loved each other. We knew we would love our baby, but we didn't know, we couldn't have known how seeing each other love and care for this little helpless babe would bring a new understanding of just how deep our love for each other ran. This was our tiredest, most raggedy birthday ever, but also the happiest of its time.
And last (till next year) but not least, our 2012 birthday. Rhodric's parents were sending us out to dinner and keeping Our Gwenna girl for the night... So we took this glorious opportunity to sneak away from usual overly busy hubbub of our life. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant that we went to when we were dating. It was lovely, but I've never been very comfortable in nice restaurants, so afterwards we went to 7-11 and picked up some American Spirits, then a cool coffee bar for coffee and headed to the beach. It was a cool but not cold evening and we set up camp for the evening. It was so surreal, we could hear people singing and talking at their fires in the distance, but we were totally alone. We had the thrill of stealing onto a beach at night with no one knowing our whereabouts, the thrill of kissing with only the stars as witness, but the security of knowing who we were are and who we were with. I got the chance to lean back and just look at this man, my husband. This man blesses me not just by the work that he does or the words that speaks, but by his very being. His loving presence is the greatest blessing and encouragement to me. Another April, another birthday together, a deeper love, another tune for our birthday medley.
And last (till next year) but not least, our 2012 birthday. Rhodric's parents were sending us out to dinner and keeping Our Gwenna girl for the night... So we took this glorious opportunity to sneak away from usual overly busy hubbub of our life. We went to a fancy Italian restaurant that we went to when we were dating. It was lovely, but I've never been very comfortable in nice restaurants, so afterwards we went to 7-11 and picked up some American Spirits, then a cool coffee bar for coffee and headed to the beach. It was a cool but not cold evening and we set up camp for the evening. It was so surreal, we could hear people singing and talking at their fires in the distance, but we were totally alone. We had the thrill of stealing onto a beach at night with no one knowing our whereabouts, the thrill of kissing with only the stars as witness, but the security of knowing who we were are and who we were with. I got the chance to lean back and just look at this man, my husband. This man blesses me not just by the work that he does or the words that speaks, but by his very being. His loving presence is the greatest blessing and encouragement to me. Another April, another birthday together, a deeper love, another tune for our birthday medley.
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