the first month of gratitude

When this is a month of gratitude.That sounded like a good way to title this post, but truthfully I don't know what to call it.--It's been a month and a day since I married Preston.And in a month I didn't know you could learn so much thankfulness that it seems foolish to try and contain it in words in an online space, seems almost laughable, but then words are cherished vessels, and sometimes, they're what we have, and the writing is a most needed remembering.--I didn't know you would be grateful for the noise of the coffee grinder because it means he lets you stay in bed longer. Or the way that taking out the trash when he's running another errand would mean so much. I didn't know you could learn to revel in doing small things like unloading the dishwasher or folding laundry while watching a show together, how that could be the most romantic afternoon. I didn't know about the joy of takeout or the joy of leftovers that become something new and beautiful tasting under his watchful eye. I didn't know about the Splendid Table podcast or how to share in things that you are new to loving with the one that you love. I didn't know your heart could be taught again and again the meaning of the word, "thank you" when it's dinner or dish washing or keeping track of the ways to use up the vegetables from the farmer's market. How saying thank you would be a thing that he would teach me, day by day, gesture by gesture.--I didn't know that sometimes I would need the discipline of writing down the gratitudes, the way that you must ask of yourself the work of remembering, of thankfulness, because even the deepest love becomes accustomed to itself sometimes and even the thing that was and is and will keep being so wondrous, like making a home with your best friend, asks to be remembered among the work of building it.He has told me more than one about the importance of telling stories, so that things will not be forgotten. He told me again on a drive into the city, my feet in their customary position tucked up under me and my eyes half-closed against the sun. I didn't say anything in the moment, and I should have. He has a wise heart. I should have said that, should have said then and there that he is teaching me the work of remembering and telling the stories, the love stories, the ordinary grace stories, the extraordinary provision stories, the stories that we will write on doorposts in our house that the generation to come might yet praise the Lord.I should have told him the story again of the drive home from the airport the first time, when everything was so new and I didn't know how to lace my fingers through his, when we knew and didn't know how we knew, on that walk leaning late into the hazy rain of June.--It is a month of gratitude, the thousand thanks Ann teaches, spilling out over our days. We must do the work of remembering the blessings, tell again and again the story of manna coming down from heaven and the way that we are provided for, the way that we are loved. We must tell the stories of love at first meeting and the way we build love, gesture  by gesture.This is my first month of gratitude.Love,hilary