There’s a story, of A Moment, a pair of boxers, a chase around the house, which Erik & Stephanie tell while laughing together as though it’s just happened, or even as though it’s still happening. You will feel lucky, like family, if they tell it to you in just that way of theirs—that unified, joyful Us-voice.

The story itself has no proper beginning, & it’s better that way; no, their story rises up from middles—a middle of lives, a middle of struggles, a middle of endings & beginnings. And among the middles & the layers: this rich good mud, this building rhythm & melody, this playful joyful life together, this Becoming, Always Becoming—it’s friendship & good laughter & easy Love as The Great World Sickness is taking shape, when everyone is always staying inside & afraid & waiting, lives on pause but moving some how even so.

Here is something true: their good mud gives life—bears it, nourishes it; their melody welcomes harmony—& flourishes from within it. They know freedom is not choosing between alternatives as much as being supported to become who you want to become. So Erik & Stephanie, usually like giggling kids with friends, are Becoming, Always Becoming, making memories even while the world is on pause; they’re sending notes endlessly, they’re walking the dogs, they’re riding bikes & taking to the forest, they’re looking up in wonder at the sky at night, they’re taking flying lessons, they’re expanding

business, they’re finishing degrees, they’re starting degrees, they’re building building building. And they’re being vulnerable, too, since what else is there but that, & they’re carving out empathetic spiritual presence with & for each other, the knowledge of being seen & known & loved both over time & right now. They’re wholly utterly themselves, they’re best friends, they’re lovers, they’re safe & bold & eager. Kinda metaphysical. Kinda outlandish. Kinda cool. Kinda weird. In little & big ways, they’re saying & deepening I Love Yous. But also, it’s like a summer love, like high school, like a crush. It’s friendship in a way that doesn’t amuse or distract, but in a way that fortifies, in a way that creates, in a way that gives good life.

In one another, they find one another truly. They let their guard down. They allow themselves to be beheld, beloved. They’ll tell you, & they’ll show you: We let each other decide. Without threat of consequence. We bark without bite. If we bite, we forgive. We move on. We value closeness over rightness of any kind. We trust one another to decide for ourselves things that impact us as individuals. We trust each other to decide things that impact both of us. And we deal with that. We choose that to be our work. We value this work. I feel free, & I feel not alone.

So when they tell you their story of A Moment, grandma’s ring, a meteorite shower, the good deep mud & layers of friendship & romance, you can see that they have become each other’s completely, in that unified, joyful Us-voice. He has become peace to her, her easy Quiet to go to & rely on, to breathe deeply with & remember. And she has become his light, the life Force that gets him going, who surprises him, who really truly delights him, who looks at him & who sees him, whose courage & strength give him so much too, in his own chest. If you’ve seen it you’ve really seen it. It’s a family kind of feeling. A good mud kind of feeling. A music kind of feeling. And you know it’s proof they’ve been finding this, & choosing this, & working toward this, & Becoming, Always Becoming this family.

Registry

Erik and Stephanie are not registered.