This day was full of different kinds of happiness. I was self publishing a book all morning, so excitedly that I forgot about getting dressed and eating. The computer was the altar of my word magic. That was a happiness.
Completing my womanhood ritual tattoo- acknowledging deeply into my skin that I am now a baby crone - that was a happiness. Doing it with my daughter, who got her own symbol tattooed onto her hip- that was another happiness. Sharing that pain, she told me, when it was my turn, “Relax Mom, just breathe,” as I had coached so many women in childbirth so many years. That was a happiness.
Coming home to a brilliant and warmly colored room-yet another happiness. My sweet husband was in a painting- the- walls- frenzy-- of course, only after ever so carefully preparing the edges with blue masking tape and draping the floor with protective drop cloths. That was a happiness.
Yet the happiest moment of all was after we dropped exhaustedly into bed together. And in the middle of the dark, in the middle of the night I heard him quietly whisper to me, as if it were a precious mantra he repeats even in his sleep, “I love you.”
--by Terra Rafael
