the first day

First real day in the new house and I am lying on the brand new bed, looking out the bedroom door at the china cabinet in the hall.  Eric has made sure to place Gumby behind the glass, arms spread wide, legs in a fabulous disco stance.  It's like he's singing, "welcome ho-ooome!" from inside the cabinet.  My head on the bare, new pillowtop.  I laugh.

He comes in, holding two pillowcases and one pillow.  He puts the first case on, chatting to me about washing machines.  He starts to put the second pillowcase on.

"Why are you putting that on?"

"This pillowcase?"

"Yeah.  You already put a pillowcase on that pillow."

"No, that's just a pillow cover."

"How is that different from a pillowcase?"

"It protects the pillow."

"Isn't that what a pillowcase does?"

"No, this protects the pillow, and the pillowcase---"

"What does it protect the pillow from?"

"It's in case your head explodes in the night."

"Okay, put the other pillowcase on, too, then."

This first day in our first house is also the day that marks five years of being together. We stand in the back porch, coats on, ready to trudge through the snow to find sustenance, and he arranges the hoods of my sweater and jacket so that they fold inside each other without bunching.  Just as he did five years ago, standing outside under the trees somewhere far away from this back porch.  He is older and stronger and better.  I feel so different.  This is our back porch.

This is something like a blessing.