soup, tea and cribbage

Today I went to my best friend's house. Emily and Austin's house. We talked about the housing market, mortgage rates, starting our own businesses, how to save money for the not-too-distant futures we want to create. Austin was busy in the kitchen prepping a dough. I helped cut a butternut squash, Emily cut onions and apples and sage. We watched an episode of The Bear while soup simmered on the stove and pumpkin cinnamon rolls rose under a damp dish towel. I marveled at how Ollie was there with us, in Em's belly. How it was no longer just the three of us, but already four. Emily made tea and we sampled the cream cheese frosting and watched a nature documentary about the fungi connecting all the trees and living things on earth. Every time I am there with them, nestled in this home whose walls I helped paint, fed and loved generously without question, I am aware of how there is really nothing more that I want in that moment. It is wholesome and pure, consistent. True love. Next time, we will play cribbage. Next year, we will watch Bluey because we will have Ollie then, and life will continue to evolve, and I will continue to feel my heart expand more and more and more.