Friday the 13th AND love

This picture was taken about 13 months ago on the 25th anniversary celebration of me and my husband.



On another Friday the 13th my dear husband, Greg, and I went on our first date. We went cross country skiing and out for supper afterward. We had first really noticed each other at the previous years Christmas party at his work place. I wrote this piece about five years ago as I remembered.

You were “in pursuit”.
You were being teased, pushed.
You didn’t care.

I - well, I was quite naïve (I think).
I was in this little black number.
It had a lace back.
Naïve.
But I was basking in the attention.
Enjoying your being “pushed”.

Who was naïve?


Another Christmas party, another time with my friend.
Only thing - I was hardly with my friend. You
seemed “dark”, somewhat threatening, though dirty blond
and blue eyed. I had been overprotected, mostly unaware
of the world about me. Perhaps this was the time
for some excitement, a bit of “life on the edge”. Pursuit,
magnetism – it happened that night. I was thrilled.

©Wendy Burton

And I wrote this poem just a few months after the above. It was written for Greg's birthday.

A Beautiful Arrangement
I made an arrangement today,
An arrangement of flowers.
First I tried to tell myself it was for you,
For your birthday.
Then I reminded myself it was for me.
I love the doing, the end, but mostly the doing.
Then it came to me -
It was for us.
It represented us, so clearly in my mind.

I put in tall beautiful spires of delphinium.
These are the courage, the hope.
They reach up high.
Sometimes the wind plays havoc.
But still they stretch up toward the sky.
Still they flower, those complex blue flowers.

There are hollyhock stems, not yet flowering, but with buds.
The stems are strong and straight.
Their leaves are large, equally strong.
Yes, there is much strength.

Asparagus ferns are for fluff, and more fragility.
But they also have reached high.
They too can be strong.

There are peonies - beautiful, fragrant, and colourful.
They are large and intricate.

A couple of daisies add some whimsy.
Sometimes I wish there were more.

I added clematis vines.
I see them as love.
Though I put in only two, I envision them
Growing
And growing
And growing,
Winding their way throughout.
They allow all the others to be their most beautiful.

As I put the arrangement together, I needed to take care.
It was raining.
The water dripped off the roof.
The hose lay in my path.
How much more symbolic could this have been
Of our life,
Our path,
As we create this most beautiful arrangement of love?

© Wendy Burton
(a gift for my husband Greg for his birthday a few years ago)

A collage piece from a few years ago: