love note #1: lenia and jared

the sun has recently come out and i'm gazing out my office window watching the snow glisten. it's magical and i know that in a few hours when i drive home my old tires will slip slide all over the place. these sunny days following snow are enchanting, but produce black ice with great efficiency.

needless to say i'm distracted on mondays by things like my window, my email, and my knitting that lives secretly in my bottom desk drawer. i'm always looking for something sweet, whether it be a delicious cookie in our break room or a nice weekend story that one of my friends emails me. does anyone else have focus issues on mondays?

in lieu of my monday mind i am committing to bringing you "monday loveday" posts (a love story a week) at the beginning of each week. i am admittedly a sap and love sweet stories. my friend lenia sent me a particularly special one this morning that she has given me permission to share.

lenia and jared got married two years ago and moved to seattle. they are one of those couples that have a natural ease around each other even though both of them very intentionally invest and work on their connection each day. for the past year lenia and jared have been trying to get pregnant. i have been very excited about the prospect of their being a bundle of leniajaredjoy.

sadly their pregnancy journey has been challenging. this past week lenia found out from the doctor that she is infertile. this was crushing news for both she and jared. we spent time crying together. as she described it, "it's a dark and quiet time."

i got an email from lenia this morning entitled, "my kissing tree". last night while she was sleeping jared had brought a lemon tree into their house and placed it in the middle of the living room in a gorgeous pot (lenia loves lemons and trees). from each branch he hung a little note listing the reasons that he finds her incredible and why he will always be proud to be her partner. on the largest branch he hung a tag saying...the kissing post. he put pillows around the pot so that they can sit under the tree to rest, think, rejuvenate, and kiss.

i was delighted by this gesture and the thought of lenia and jared's kissing tree. hope you all have a piece of joy come into your lives today.

photocredit: missmae