To my husband

I would like to be the air

that inhabits you for a moment

only. I would like to be that unnoticed

& that necessary. 

- Variations on the word sleep, Margaret Atwood

  

  Thank you for being the boy who found me at the crossroads when I was lost. You were lost too, but you said you felt as if you were found when you found me.

  Thank you for being you even when I tried to change you. For understanding that even while I loved you the way you were and are, I thought these changes would make you happier.

  Thank you for loving me. For loving me even though I was, am, a difficult person. For loving me because I am difficult.

   During my birthday week, I scarcely had time to think about my birthday. But, you slept on my couch every night, next to me, as I worked late into the night, sorting out the legal problems. At the end of each night/dawn, I would nudge you softly and say, "I'm done." And you would smile at me, and say, "Let's go to sleep."

   If love is an idea, you are my execution.