{ recollection } - yogi. photographer. storyteller. austin, tx

There she sat in her chair, just as I had seen her so many times. Together they had looked like King and Queen of their home in their recliners, each with their own lamp and side table. She was so still, in disbelief or reverie. It was this moment that I was able to place a word with what I had witnessed between my grandparents for nearly 20 years, love.




My grandmother with whom I share a name, was my first glimpse of true love. In this one visit after my grand father's passing, I saw her heart missing the piece which she called "Norris."
In her eyes and in her countenance, it was clear she would never be the lively Me-Maw that I had always known and cherished. Her spark came from their playful banter, the way they teased each other and pretended to argue, when all the time she was devoted and in mad love.

She broke the melancholy silence... "You know what I miss the most?" she asked me, not really needing an answer she continued on, "I miss how he came home every night and would shout to me "Sallie, I'm home!" it was the best part of my day and now I won't ever hear that again."

I believe in love, I've seen it. It looks like two people grumbling around a house with a mischievous twinkle in their eye for one another. It looks like a smile when you walk in from a long day away. It looks like a wink across the table at a bad joke. It looks like pictures displayed and stories told with the greatest pride for a lover. It looks like Buttered Pecan ice cream in the freezer.



I might wear rose colored glasses, but what I have seen and what I recognize that charged between my Me-Maw and Paw-Paw is the sweetest of romances. A true love story.