Five Years a Writer

“For it to last a lifetime, love has to be immense at the start.” Margaret Gore,  character in  Four Letters of Love  by Niall Williams  The hydrangeas planted two seasons ago are running amuck in the raised bed; they droop in the rain, get bashed by the wind, and their beautiful flower-heads hang from the stems as if tired in their home. They are not what I expected or what I want in that spot anymore. I am going to dig them up and move them. They have no choice in this matter.  Val and I mark 32 years together this August 31st, an anniversary we count on the day we got legally married 12 years ago. At that time, we had been together 20 years. But numbers don’t tell the story of a relationship. The roots that nurture it tell the tale. Our roots go deep, keeping us tethered in the here and now of being together, still, after all these years. We have had an ordinary life — ups and downs, health scares and health recoveries, job losses and career changes, parental...