It takes a lot of experience for a girl to kiss like a beginner.

Jim just called and he is 150 miles east of Portland. He will arrive tonight late but  most importantly he will arrive tonight.

 

When we were first dating I was living on East 79^th street in Manhattan. On Friday afternoons I would head home to pack for the trip to new haven. On the way to Grand Central Station I would buy fresh flowers from one of the street vendors on Lexington. I recall  the daffodils most clearly. I kept them wrapped in wet paper until the conductor anno9unced Bridgeport and I then did the dating ritual…. Go to the ladies room, check the hair and lipstick and  in my case add flowers to my hair. He would always be early at the station, ready to take my small bag and sweep me off my feet with his energetic excitement.  And now all these decades later he is arriving and I am preparing. No daffodils. Holly in the hair will have to suffice. And there is freshly baked bread and a John Huston movie and I haven’t done the dishes so we will have LOTS of hot water for a long steamy Jacuzzi. Fresh sheets are on the bed, I plumped and punched his pillows and even  cleared space in the garage for the darling of a Subaru that brought him safely to our new life  back in the west.

 

The griddle is seasoned because he might want late night eggs or pancakes to warm up from the cold. The excitement in the house feels so much like New Haven Spring and I  am reminded that no matter how much I complain or whine or teasingly call him the German Prince. I adore this man and only want him by my side.