snow on the hills

Nov 152011

“It snowed on the hills around us last night.”

I think of the words from one of his letters each time it snows on those same hills again each year.

I remember how much I longed to be with him then, to watch it snow and let him warm my hands, my heart.

Today he put his cold fingers to my cheek when he came in from working the fields. He’s trying to get it all done before it snows—not just around us, but on us.

These days we watch the sun set pink on those snowy hills, set earlier and earlier each night.

And we long for the moment when we get the children to bed and it’s quiet; when we can watch each other in the flicker of candlelight, warm and cozy by the fire.

{linking up with “Just Write”}

remember

Nov 042011

“Do you remember where you bought this CD?” he asks, in the midst of the after-dinner cleanup and pickup.

No, I can’t remember where I bought it. (We decided it must have been used off the internet, with the hold punched through the bar code.)

But I remember why.

It has that song on it. One of the many that were “our song” throughout all those years of friendship and falling in love.

One of those about which we’d ask the other, “Have you heard so-and-so’s new song?” And in thinly veiled code, we’d reveal how much we liked the song, how much the message spoke of our feelings for the other.

He presses play and I remember.

The way he signed that letter. The way he smiled that day. The way he said, “I do love you, very much.” The way those songs were the soundtrack to our lives.

Yes, I remember.

Five-Minute Friday: Remember

2011 Friends Gretchen & Sabine

10 years earlier…

We catch a moment to talk on the way to the thrift store. It feels a bit like old times, when she’d come visit, when I didn’t have little ones, even as small as the one in the back seat.

We grab coffee and I introduce her like she’s the stranger and I’m the one who’s lived here forever instead of the other way around.

We catch the sales and we hurry to get home in time to make lunch for our kind and generous babysitters. And in the in between moments, we catch up.

The weekend’s packed full of family and friends and surprise visitors and ice cream and memories. It’s a weekend for doing more than just catching a few moments together—it’s a weekend where we make time together, before we all say goodbye.

The house looks like we’ve barely been in it but to undress and eat and dress again. The laundry and the dishes are done at random moments. And in between each we catch pictures and moments and memories and conversations.

Because the laundry will still be here on Monday. But our company will be gone.

And we know these moments, caught and planned, will be the ones we look back on when the miles separate us once again and we can only talk to the soldier by letter and when the kids are grown three inches a piece before we see them next.

I wish I could save these moments
And put ‘em in a jar
I wish I could stop the world from turning
Keep things just the way they are
I wish I could shelter you from everything
Not pure and sweet and good
I know I can’t, I know I can’t
But I wish I could

-Collin Raye, “I Wish I Could”

written for the Five-Minute Friday prompt “catch”

snow on the hills

remember

1,000 Words {flashback}

1,000 Words {flashback}

catch

Letters to Share

Favorite Post Cards

Young Ladies Christian Fellowship