Happy Anniversary

It started out with him saying it was his anniversary the twentieth I said reflexively Happy Anniversary right before he added yes exactly twenty years ago I nearly bled to death such an ugly hunting accident thought I'd lose the limb that was twenty years ago. Twenty years ago today They were slim then the chances that all would be fine I wanted to crawl under but saw not a single rock He continued adding detail after detail seemingly wanting to relive the ordeal was this nostalgia? a real relationship? I sensed good feelings from a life reeling A celebration of survival, I thought The really bad and the really good may over time occupy the same emotional real estate a happy couple never to separate if the drag of carefully cultivated sensibilities does not guide one to a place of trauma a place of euphoria In the mind, with time, the good and bad can fuse, forge an unbreakable bond unbreakable in the way that is rarely supported by the body or our relations The hunting rifle and the soulmate can meet: shotgun wedding Montague and Capulet hate so much they kill one another Capulet and Montague love so much they die for one another And so I and the other one talking jovially becoming hoarse the other thinking there can be an anniversary that cannot ever end in a divorce