Turn a Corner

On Valentine’s Day my husband and I were in downtown Napa, and since we had some time on our hands we decided to visit our old neighborhood. This is the house where we met (as it looks today) and lived in for a few years before moving upvalley back in the 80s. The color of the siding used to be mustard yellow, which I had been fond of, but now it’s a trendy gray with white trim.

Some things have changed for the better, but I miss the blue hydrangeas that grew alongside the stairs, and the magnolia tree we planted after we were married. Such a tiny yard doesn’t make sense for a tree, but Dave’s mom suggested it and I liked the idea.

“Just imagine sitting out front and sipping mint julips,” she had said. I’m not a southern girl and neither was she, but doesn’t that sound tempting? Back then the porch wasn’t closed in—something that was on our to-do list along with finishing the garage in the back yard.

My oldest son was born while we lived in this house, but we worried about raising him in close proximity to busy traffic. The Greyhound Bus station was around the corner and every so often you could hear a bus rumbling by. The two-story had three bedrooms, two of which were upstairs and between them a steep set of stairs led down to face a wall before hooking sharply to the right. You wouldn’t want to take a tumble down those stairs and chance crashing into that wall.

“Turn a Corner” from my book, Light the Way, is an abbreviated version of how Dave and I first met. An old friend of mine, Laura, had recently moved in with her boyfriend, Randy, a roommate to Dave. I hadn’t seen Laura in a while and was given this address by a mutual friend so I called on her. I thought the house was charming and it turned out that Dave owned it. The rest is my favorite love story, ours. Now we have a new romantic tradition for Valentine’s Day—to visit the house where we met.

Turn a Corner

I turn a corner
His kitchen full of
laughing friends
Dark-lashed
merry blue eyes
welcome me
the unexpected guest

I’m here
to see Laura…
your roommate
Awkwardness
explained
His smile
disarming

Laura appears
ready to go
You can stay
he says
Laura shrugs

I’m not here
to see him
or am I