Bob and I have been married twenty one years tonight. It feels weird. i remember the day I turned twenty one, and it felt like I'd lived a whole life ub to that point. It was almost twenty years after that I married Bob, a whole lifetime again, and now another twenty one years have passed and it doesn't seem like a minute. Yet the girls wer little then and now they are grown and mothers. I still do the same work and still feel very much teh same, hopefully a little wiser, easier on myself and others. Bob still is my love, and in this I am so fortunate. These poems are for you sweetie.

Love Poem

Thank you
for loving me
when I am least
lovable, for patience,
tenderness, hope
when I feel hopeless.
For loving me,
Thank you.


Bob Hendricks

Bob Hendricks loves me.
That feels like a miracle.
We haven't been easy,
me and my girls, bereaved,
volatile, skeptical, set in our ways.
He married me, adopted them
taught us about season tickets.
to make reservations and shop
for deals on dream vacations.
He loves Beethoven, Rembrandt,
Faulkner, Melville, Rodin ,Cezanne.
He sings "Take Me Out to the Ball
Game" with his arm around my waist
every seventh inning stretch and knows
the rules and strategies of every sport.
He'd rather share Yellowstone, Big Bend,
the Grand Canyon with grand children
than experience more parks without them.
He pulls me outdoors to see the full moon
rise when the toads call in the neighborhood.
Chess genius, he grew bored of the game
because winning was too easy. No ego about
his math mind, his quickness, his knowledge.
He always has a dog he loves with little boy heart.
His totems are red wolf, golden eagle.
He meets God in wildness, great art.
He struggled to find work that
mattered, satisfied, big mind
and bigger ideals, desire to help.
Teaching fourth grade isn't perfect,
but it suits more than marketing.
He loves learning about almost anything,
fights overeating, especially chocolate,
rises early, craves information, respects his
parents, his brothers, reminds me strangers
starving in Africa are just as human as
grandchildren asleep on out own sofa,
is afraid of heights, spiders, hurting me.
It feels like a miracle.
Bob Hendricks loves me.