What Love Looks Like

I don't get it. What I don't get is how ordinary people like me and Bill recombine some DNA and produce something like Phoebe and Liam.

I know better than to question miracles.

 But I'm convinced that the same thing that happened to shoes and stuffed animals has happened to modern children. That is to say, the shoes and stuffed animals I grew up with were clunky and not very nice. Shoes were heavy and uncomfortable. We clopped around in wooden Dr. Scholl's sandals and clunky platform shoes. Remember Earth Shoes? With the "negative heel?" Our kids get to wear Keens and Asics running shoes that weigh a couple of ounces and feel like heaven. I grew up cuddling stuffed animals with ugly vinyl faces, pokey wires and pilled, sheddy fur. Our kids get ravishing supersoft plush anteaters, koalas, condors and cool dinosaurs. 

I was not beautiful. Not even close. My kids are. All their friends are, too. I gaze at them and know something happened. Something good. Better nutrition? Better makeup? Better clothes? You bet. All that, and then about eleven pounds of fairy dust.

photo by Tanya Wilder

But it gets better. Because Phoebe and Corey found each other on Hog Island, Maine, in the magical summer of 2012, and he's just the best. He can identify bugs and plants and herps for me. He's starting out knowing more than I do. 

He plays old-time fiddle to make your heart melt. He likes to squaredance. But he'll dance any old kind of dance, even an azalea promenade.

photo by Laura Fulton

Bill and I weren't there for Phoebe's senior prom. We were working at the New River Birding and Nature Festival. But Corey flew out to take her there, all the way from Cambridge, where he's a freshman at Harvard, and our talented friends took these photos for us. Thank you, Laura and Tanya and Caroline!!!

photo by Caroline Eels Waller of Passiflora, who also made the hellebore/peacock feather bling.

The prom was held at the Comfort Inn, which did a reasonable imitation of a classy joint for a Great Gatsby-themed event. These two dress it up a bit, don't they? Pull that fire alarm!

Phoebe and I tried a bunch of ordinary prom dresses, but the vinegary Paas colors and excessive stoneware about the bosom that seem to be the norm this year just didn't work for us. We found this exquisitely understated thing at Cache. I gulped three times and said yes to the dress. She'll only have one senior prom. And she swears she'll wear this dress again.

photo by Tanya Wilder

This is what love looks like. 

Yesterday evening, Phoebe helps Liam with his math homework while he twiddles her hair. 

Love looks like this, too.