March 27, 2014

My dearest,

It’s been one and a half months, maybe two, since you left for Africa. This has been the longest spent apart in the six years we’ve been together. Not easy, not after nearly every day spent in mundane routine that never seems to lose its magic. Blessed are the meek and mild; there is, truly, no greater joy than being thankful for what we have.

Today you’re flying home. In fact you’ve left Luanda last night. You’re wandering in Dubai International Airport now, waiting for the next leg of your journey to begin. I am waiting too. There is no hurry though, however excited we may be, for this journey is more than a flight or three years spent as an expatriate in Angola. This journey will take a lifetime; our lifetime shared and savoured.

Welcome home, baby.

Sometimes hidden from me
in daily custom and in trust,
so that I live by you unaware
as by the beating of my heart.

Suddenly you flare in my sight,
a wild rose blooming at the edge
of thicket, grace and light
where yesterday was only shade,

and once again I am blessed, choosing
again what I chose before.

— Wendell Berry, The Wild Rose

Yours, ever and always.