Late Night Detour

On Wednesday night, after spending a few hours with new refugee friends of ours, Dennis took a detour home. I was tired (in a good way) from the day and eager to hold the TV remote. But Dennis insisted and I reluctantly went along with it. It turned out to be a short detour--just a few blocks from our home on the rooftop of our grocery store. You are probably thinking, "the rooftop of your grocery store?" (For my suburban friends who enjoy the luxuries of vast parking lots, urban dwellers are typically relegated to the rooftops of places like grocery stores because there is no land to create space for parking:)

I was genuinely annoyed, wondering why my husband was driving to the grocery store at 10:30 pm. And it wasn't for a late night ice cream fix. Dennis drove up the parking ramp and, at the very top, stopped the car and marvelled at the skyline. He pointed at the Sears Tower, historic church steeples, and the countless other skyscrapers that stood closely together a few miles east of us. And he watched amazed...

If you know Dennis, then you know that he loves and celebrates life. I marvel at him and his ability to find beauty in the most ordinary of things. I am constantly puzzled by how another human being can pause in the middle of a city that never sleeps and take a deep breath in; how he can go through a stressful day and find peaceful reprieve driving along the lakeshore giving thanks along the way. I need that. I need him. I need a husband that lifts me from the ground to dance among a crowd of people where nobody else is dancing; a husband who sings at the top of his lungs at the red stoplight without a care in the world. I need my husband who drives to the rooftop parking deck past my bedtime and gazes at the city with me. I never knew I needed him so much...

Thank you, Denny, for helping me to pause in the midst of my busy life and mind...and showing me how to live life more fully. I love you.