What does sixty-five years look like?
A 17 year old and a 24 year old 
in a small presbyterian church, 1956,
make a promise they keep –
years in New York, they later bring back
three daughters to small town, Kentucky –
a full time teaching job and
a house to be built-
raising a family on love and
the comfort of knowing that home
is a place where hands made everything,
from floors to rooms to 
canned green beans and jam –
to every beautiful dress each child owned.
What does sixty-five years look like?
Summer trips to New York family,
fireflies caught in mason jars
around a fire built for canning food
and a sky full of twinkling stars,
summer teaching jobs and weekend
work at a dairy bar to purchase
a stove, a washer, a car,
three daughters sent to college.
What does sixty-five years look like?
Seven grandchildren, homemade
birthday cakes, Thanksgiving meals
and porch swing full of children
celebrating a 4th of July birthday,
leaving the hand-built home to
be closer to those grandchildren.
Open heart surgeries, breast cancer
and hip replacements, an anniversary
spent in the hospital.
So many years of memories, 
the scent of each other always present
the comfort of a hand-
and now, sixty-five years looks like
rubbing lotion on her face,
cleaning her after an accident,
brushing her teeth,
feeding her tenderly with a spoon,
holding the glass of juice to her lips,
he remembers for them both.

For the two who made me.
by Kelly Waterbury