In part of Amy's birthday celebration this year, I wanted thank her for being the truest, most beautiful, most inspiring person I know. In an effort to do so--against my better judgement--I'm sharing here a poem I wrote her in 2006, and today add three more verses:
There once was girl who got left at home
With no money to spend, and two little gnomes
She'd a bean on the way, And an 'ol chubby hubby
And a house that each day would make itself grubby
And then one lone night, that girl had a dream
That she took those two gnomes and trained them to clean
And found a new hubby, better by far
Who had wads o'money and shiny new cars
And she got new clothes, and toys, and perfume
And long naps each day from 3 back til noon
And a fitness guru to be her own trainer
And a cook for her pasta who'd use his owns strainer
For these and all forms 'o daily duress
Her dream did provide and save her much stress
Ensuring her peace, ease, fitness and fun
And freeing her up to read, eat and run
Now lets take a break from girly's nice dream,
And return to it a little later--on in this stream
To discuss that same night, cross the country in Boston
Where chubby ol' hubby was turnin and tossin
And dreaming himself of similar fluff
Of girly and gnomes and money and stuff
But his dream was tweaked and all 'bout a place
Where he'd already shown his chubby face
Where sometimes-tired girly and gnomes played around
In a self-grubbing place where finances were down
And cars, house and clothes were in need of attention
And time is constrained, triple-booked, not to mention
Of these and all those other things that went with 'em
This hubby did dream, but not with derision
No 'twas not with disdain that he tossed and he turned
But, instead, for that place he found that he yearned
Each minute away from that oft-grubby place
Seemed always like days, and he long-prayed for grace
To take him back safe to her and his home
To see tired girly and he-and-she gnomes
And lucky for him when ol' girly awoke
She laughed at her dream and felt it a joke
And accepted him each time that he returned
Though chubby and cheap and tired and life-spurned
And with open arms and within her stride
Did work with His faults and frustration did hide
And for clean house, money, ease, and fluff-stuff
Did settle for dreams and that was enough.
_________________
Now be-fore they knew, seven years more they had seen
And gnomes three and four had now joined the team
And hubby and girly traded-in Boston
To move to Seattle and start Microsoft'en
And raising those gnomes the best that they could
With laughter at errors, and mistakes understood
Now these recent years had not all behaved
And at times time stood still and seemed a dark cave
In which hubby and girly would take turns with the light
When one fell exhausted, the other one rose to fight
And at these times, to hubby, it never seemed fair
That girly would oft accept more pain than her share
And carry their family on her shoulders broad
And draw him to his feet and turn him to God
So girly, I love you. And words soon disgrace
My desire to express how I feel anyplace
Where you or your laughter or your effect I feel
For you 'for my Maker I humb-a-ly kneel
And know His perfection b'cuz me he so knew
To create perfection personified, my angel, my You.
