Happy 31st Anniversary Sheila ;-)

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Poems for all loves, lovers family and friends.

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“the intent of this blog is to incrementally build a body of thought that works toward integrating various topics, yoga, fitness, and the arts – it’s a process…”

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happy 31st anniversary sheila 😉

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below the following poem, is my post for our 30th anniversary last year, on this same date 😉

sheila and i were one month away from leaving texas for vermont for a bit to be near her family, and to see her home state

we arrived around 5 pm, rented a car, and drove to our new apt, met our landlady for our keys and intros, and walked down the few blocks to church street where the summer’s first festival of jazz was well under way

by the time we were seated out doors under the umbrellas at ken’s pizzas, the cooling dry air felt a bit chilly to us, dropping quickly to near 60, having that morning left houston’s humid nearly 100 degree days 😉

we still smile remembering the girl taking our order say, “oh it was terrible hot today, hit 90!”

we knew what she meant, but now we really know what she meant 😉

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so today, we celebrate not a monumental marker like our 30 year anniversary last year, with a grand family gathering in galveston in perfect 80 degree sunshine, and lots of granddaughters running to and from the pool –

today, the monumental marker is another year, and like the meaning of my recent work of the every-day, this added year, our 31st, is really very much that, a monument in itself, of itself – happy and grateful to have this time…

happy 31st anniversary sheila 😉

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Our 31st Anniversary

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another year’s gone by and again

so full and yet

still filling with so much

more –

we’ve returned to your growing-up

lands and peoples

walked streets your parents walked when

their whispers were waves of feelings

calling you to leave your wings

and be a baby

for them

we’ve sipped coffee at the deli

they must’ve wandered in

snow stuck to their

boots, flakes

finding

eye-lashes and young necks to melt on –

i’ve walked mountains your father

held your hand on and

talked with you of

how the waterfront has changed since when

your brother was your tag-along

drove bridges you said you’d carried him on your

bicycle

we found new ways to see the summer

felt the fall-ish colors and crispy snows you anew me all new

we came and found continuity in our fitness classes

and soon we’ll discover a new knee for you

a new fit

for our life –

we’ve been in texas and vermont, in

austin galveston houston and burlington

all so completely different in the life they bring

and yet in all the differing climes all the changing skies and

all the ways that summers heat and winters freeze

plus all the ways we age

we’ve always stayed the same

happy 31st anniversary sheila 😉

i love you 😉

adan

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© 2012 felipe adan lerma

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[ added late 050112 ]

this poem, written the few days leading to today, May 1st, our anniversary, is also being linked to dVersepoets’ OpenLinkNight Week 42 Prompt, hosted by Tashtoo

falling also on may 1st, the prompt is a call “to take May Day 2012 as a day in support of the 99%”

i’m assuming that’s most of us 😉

tashtoo goes on to write about how important poetry has been in her life, and adds,

“No matter your beliefs, your opinions, your grievances, there is room for your words….”

there is not greater honor of the belief in equality and freedom, i believe, than to encourage all opinions, even those opposed to one’s own

but let us remember, that without substantiation, opinions are just that –

and i believe tashtoo is encouraging of that substantiation and expression by each of us

with that in mind, i feel my tributes this year and last, to my relationship with sheila, carry as much validation of the value of effort and time with another person one cares about, as can be expressed in words and images 😉

below is last year’s 30th anniversary posting

thanks so much ya’ll 😉

namaste – con dios – god be with you

adan

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[ Please Note: originally posted 050111 ]

Intro

The Occasion!

today, may day, is sheila and mine’s 30th anniversary

nearly half our lives already!

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Preparation

i went back and forth, up and down, around and back, trying to decide how if when i would post about this event

this is what i decided –

since i don’t have enough digital pics to do justice to 30 years i’d only post a few, though one is a compilation of photos i took a photo of!

and, since i have at least four poems, two by each of us, written over the years, about anniversaries, i’d post that, 2 of @ by each of us

the “wedding blessing” would work as well, but it’s already posted 😉

rather than re-word our orignal poems, especially sheila’s! i’ve opted to just do a short commentary, making them personal, for us…

i hope ya’ll enjoy them as much as we have living and creating them 😉

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The Poems

all originals by either myself or sheila

short current anniversary-commentary follow each poem

The Photos

also all original

though the details vary, so the photography-detailing, how i played the edges, ala my post, playing my edge with photography, variations, are in the footnotes

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Anniversary

Anniversaries are a time 

of celebrating and 

remembering

all the good times

and good things. Of 

rejoicing all the bad 

ones overcome.

Only, don’t 

let it be

just today.

Help each other

celebrate each other.

Help each other

remember each other.

And help recreate 

each other’s tomorrow

today and forever.

© 1994-2011 adam light creations – adan lerma

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there’s a strong sense of shared-ness and recognition that, even if not necessary, for enlightenment surviving or simply existing, we can help each other

actually, knowing it’s a choice, it means even more i think…

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[1]

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This Anniversary

This anniversary is

different from the others.

Not because it’s so many years –

Not because it marks a milestone –  

Not because we’re doing 

anything special to celebrate. 

This time something

really clicked –

Something we’ve wanted for so long

happened.

Something brought us 

the closest we’ve ever been.

Yes, this anniversary

is really “something”.

© 1997-2011 adam light creations / sheila lerma

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sheila wrote this just because she wanted to

many of our poems we’d sell and personalize in the 90’s, were written in response to requests

this poem was one she said she felt compelled to write, and says she still can’t quite place the words as to why this is so

i’ll take her word for it 😉

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[2]

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First Anniversary

The vows were spoken,

the bond was made

“only” a year ago.

Since then has come a 

unique understanding

that only the two of you

can really know.

Dreams spun together –

Plans forged ahead

on a path that’s just begun.

Looking forward to sharing 

many more years of caring

like this very special

Year Number One.

©  1997-2011 adam light creations / sheila lerma

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sheila did write this poem in response to an occasion, i believe our oldest girl’s first wedding anniversary

yet the sentiments are those i’ve heard her express to me many a time, about us

i think she’s right :

“year number one” and “year number thirty” –

are but number-markings set apart

all else remains the same

the path is always…

just beginning…

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[3]

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Our Anniversary of Meeting

I remember the light

around

and in your eyes.

I remember

the quickened interest

in 

my own heart and eye.

And I remember imagining –

in a flash flown by –

remembering this, our first moment,

many many times

in times then still so far off.

And I’ll remember all this

now, at

our anniversary of meeting,

as when those dreams of

future memories

had begun becoming one, like us.

©  1995-2011 adam light creations / adan lerma

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yea, i know 😉 not a wedding anniversary writing, but i guess i could argue, when did we become married, spiritually anyways 😉

and i really did imagine, back then, when i first saw her, her shirt’s laced high collar touching lightly on her neck, auburn light brown hair pulled back gently across her light skin, that i would remember this moment in the future, and remember knowing i would remember then, now

happy 30th anniversary sheila 😉

namaste – con dios – god be with you

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poetry series

photography series

footnotes

[1]  a pic we had someone take of us this past nov (2011)

besides cropping, i blurred the whole image, then history brushed our faces back in

most heavy photoshop users know they can adjust brush size via the bracket key “[“

but if you don’t, and use photoshop a lot, don’t feel bad, i only found out a few months ago when i finally got tired of not using a keyboard shortcut, and did a search via photoshop’s help search 😉

this was kinda fun literally playing with edges i brought back into focus

a sharpening swipe on my eyes, and a smudge swipe (or two) on the bags under my eyes, and wallah! got the focus i wanted!

[2]  sheila loves putting together collages of actual printed photos, playing with the selection and arrangement

i took advantage of that and grabbed a nice shot of many of our years together

each photo had its own light/dark balancing, so i did a gestalt that evened most of the darkness from the older pics, then bracketed a dodge brush smaller and larger and back, lightening our faces, followed by swipes with the sponge tool where the lightening made the faces too red

dodging the poster board edges around the various photos gave them a neat spotlight glow i like 

i had the distinct sensation of feeling that the photos, with that glow around them, plus the memories and feelings they evoked, were like stars seen at night, twinkles of light pulling at the heart, only this time, i knew why…

[3]  final photo dates back to 1981, or so

i left the old-time glare-glaze on the image, rather than removing it, because i felt it enhanced the sensation of our past

the cigarette was also left in, to show where i’ve come from – 19 years of smoking since a late teen, to finally quitting march 1983 – that story will come 😉

i marginally saturated the color, sharpened and softened and re-sharpend gestaltly, finishing via a slight pull-back with the fade tool (love that feature)

if ever a doubt what a cutie-pie sheila is, here’s proof 😉

just match it with the first photo 30 years later!

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