Conquering Vertigo

Date night

I had a date with my husband last night. We've been married 13 days. Sometimes it feels like a glorious lifetime, sometimes a shocking yet beautiful surprise. Who's this man in my bed? Where's Jake the Dog? What a happy morning.

I rushed into the restaurant to meet him, full of my discoveries from the day. I'm working from home for a company based in Houston, and we're close enough to the ocean that I can spend my lunch hour walking on the beach -- and keep it to under an hour.

When I jogged down for my walk yesterday, a teacher from Sacred Heart was overseeing a group of middle school students as they excavated civilizations from the edge of the dunes. What a marvelous curriculum they have here! Fifth and sixth graders are grouped into small teams, create both a fictional civilization and accompanying artifacts, bury them in the sand, and then dig up - layer after layer - each other's mysterious pasts. It's an all-day jamboree in the surf. Next day, the teams describe what they've found, try to piece together an understanding of the found objects, and then debrief with the group that actually created the culture.

What a terrific team learning exercise, and what an absolutely splendid metaphor for adult relationships.

Each day we excavate a little of what the other person has placed beneath the dunes. Layer by layer, like a particularly piquant lasagne, we uncover the delicacy created for us. Pardon my mixed metaphors - I'm very hungry and the Italian is downstairs in his old chinos, cooking my dinner.

Each day, another found object illuminates or obscures the man I married.
Magare, caro signore, amo questo uomo.

posted by Woman In Love @ 5:18 PM