Yes, it is wonderful...

Little sweetheart, I was going through things here this morning and I came across a screenshot of a text you sent me (I have all of them!) on my old pre-iPhone phone. 

Yes, it is wonderful! 

Love you forever. 

Love Stories

It’s Halloween season, little sweetheart - a close second to Christmas for you as a favorite, I think - and I’m starting to work some seasonally appropriate films into my evening watching. 

Tonight I’ve got “Let The Right One In” on and of course I’m thinking of you because we first saw it together, renting it from Le Video and holding hands on your bed in The Inner Sunset. 

I’ve always held it as a love story although almost everyone says it’s not, pointing to the novel that was its source and other opinion pieces. But, like a lot of things, I came to it with you and in the giddy throes of your saving my life with a love that took my breath away. 

For me, Oskar and Eli’s story is like our own, however impossible that may sound to anyone else. Only you could have found me - perhaps through a thousand years of trying - and utterly saved and changed me. And given me faith that we are forever, you are closer than I can imagine and that I will be with you again so very soon. 

With all my love forever …

Friday, I'm in Love

My dearest dear Summer - oh, little sweetheart, I love you so! Tonight I was in the middle of something and suddenly really wanted to hear “Friday, I’m in Love” by The Cure. You and I were standing together in the kitchen in Kris and Joy’s flat in Kentish Town when we both heard it for the first time. Even though it had come out almost 15 years before you and I heard it then for the very first time and it became one of our most holy songs. 

Tonight, I watched I video with the sound up loud. I’ve seen it many many times and with you too but I cried and cried after. I’m still crying. I miss you so very much. It’s unbelievable how much I love you and how you absolutely shatter and put me back together again. I will always feel this way, I know. I love you with my entire soul and can’t wait to be with you again and forever on the other side. With all of my love, forever.

 

Eire, pt 9

One last picture from Ireland, little sweetheart. On one of our hikes we found a stone circle and stepped inside it. Thought to be magical and sacred, it seems a perfect place to remember - knowing that you (and we) are forever and that we will find one another again. 

Eire, pt 8

On our final day in Ireland, little sweetheart, we were driving south down the coast en route to Cork City, when we came across an Irish country fair. We stopped and strolled the grounds - lots of families out together enjoying the food and the fall weather, prizes being given for giant vegetables, a dog race (!) with results being announced over the PA, rows of tractors proudly on display. Just lots of fun and a totally unexpected detour. I came up underneath your big black Zorro-like sunhat and took this picture of your beaming, beautiful happy face... 

 

 

 

Eire, pt 7

In the last days of our visit to Ireland, little sweetheart, we took another epic hike along the coastal path, ending with this shot of you against the sun setting over the Atlantic. 

Afterward, we drove to Bantry and had the most amazing dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Snug. You, Kris & I had the place almost to ourselves (a rare occasion -at the height of the season, it's hard to get a table at all, Kris & I would usually eat at the bar) and when we came out into the gorgeous star-filled night, there was a flock of swans swimming there in Bantry Bay. Magic!

Eire, pt 6

One day, with Kris behind the wheel of our rental car, we drove over to one of the neighboring peninsulas, The Beara, and then all the way out its very edge where a cable car takes you to Dursey Island - the westernmost point of Europe. There was a sign there that whimsically pointed the direction to Tir na nOg (which of course was also the title of the play that was the occasion of our first meeting one another). Kris took this picture there of us, little sweetheart...

 

 

Eire, pt 5

More pictures from our trip to Ireland, little sweetheart. One day out walking together, a little Jack Russell terrier suddenly came out of the bushes to greet us. He was very friendly and instead of just following us, ran on ahead, looking over his shoulder every now and again to make sure we were still behind. He was as good as a tour guide. He wound up leading us down to the pier and that's where we took this picture together...

Eire, pt 4

We always liked to take epic walks together, little sweetheart, and Ireland was a great place for us to do just that! Here's two pictures of us way out at the end of the Sheep's Head Penisula. We took the path all the way out to the lighthouse. This was taken just beyond/beneath the lighthouse itself, overlooking the ocean... 

Eire, pt 3

The anniversary of our week in Ireland continues, little sweetheart. Here's Kris & Joy and you with our friend, a local, Johnny. After visiting him at his house, we all walked down to the pub for pint...

Eire, pt 2

 More of our Ireland trip. This one in the field just behind our house in Kilcrohane...

Eire Days (pt 1)

Little sweetheart, thirteen years ago this week was our trip to Ireland together! I'll post some of the pictures here over the next few days to remember, okay? 

This one was taken down on Doneen Pier as we went for a walk late that first afternoon... 

With all my love forever.

Directions

Running errands today, little sweetheart, I had been to the post office and had to duck into the housewares store just up the block. The sidewalk there on W52nd Street is a bit narrow with all the delivery bicycles and store displays. 

 

An older couple were walking very slowly in front of me, she leading and he behind her looking at his phone. “I’m trying to find it, sweetheart”, he said. Sweetheart. That is, of course, how I addressed you (and still do!) and no one else ever. 

 

I ducked into the store, got my stuff and when I came out they were at the corner looking up at the vacant building where my dry cleaners used to be. 

 

The address is still printed on the awning and she read it aloud. “782”. I stopped and told them that the numbers go up as you walk north. I asked what address they were looking for. 

 

She said “764”. I said, pointing, “okay, so you guys want to go south. Next block, this side of the street”. She thanked me and started walking but her husband stood there and shook my hand looking at me intently. “You’re a good guy!” he said. 

 

I laughed and said, “Likewise! You guys have fun!” 

 

Sometimes when something random like that happens and I can help someone, I really feel like you are with me. I know you are. And you were today.

With all my love forever.