PRETEND

In the summer of my 5th grade year

I was riding my bicycle down Barkley Street and I stopped in front of 822

I said to myself in just a whisper

"Pretend"

"Pretend you live here and you live here with a man who will give you diamonds"

I have never forgotten the scene in Far and Away

where Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise had broken into a home

and they sat down in front of a diamond window as the snow falls behind them

she said

"Pretend you love me and I am your wife"

and he said

"I pretend"

and they kissed

Our lives are not like the movie

instead it is filled with

hammers and nails and ladders and saws

we have painted and caulked and plumbed and wired

"we"

 are the demolition crew

the pool boy

 the sod layer 

the grass mower

 the base coat guys

the apprentice on a 25 foot ladder

the tile cutters

the rock stackers

and most days in a very unromantic state of being

but the heart and soul of 822

building something to last forever for those we love

 just recently I remember that wish so long ago

and I realize that I do indeed live here with man who has given me diamonds

and the only one thing greater than my abundance 

via last Christmas

is my gratitude for it

I hope that you find yourself in this time of Thanksgiving

giving thanks for all the things you hold dear