Life partner
Elwha River, Washington
He is who he is and he is comfortable in his skin.
He is sentimental. The way he sports that green scarf (which Chaidie knitted at least ten years ago) reminds me of my dad. One Christmas when I was little and made all my gifts, I gave him a jar with a cover crocheted from some cheap acrylic multicolor yarn. It was astonishing to me to find, decades later, that he still had that relic of the 1970’s on his dresser.
He keeps going.
Sometimes it’s cold and wet.
He doesn’t always know the destination.
Or how much longer till the next rest stop.
But he takes heart and keeps putting one foot in front of the other, no matter what.
No one will ever know what it has cost him in his hardest times.
No one ever knows the burden someone carries merely from their gait.
He stops, and looks around, and notices.
He takes joy and he draws strength from the beauty in the world, in all seasons and all weathers.