Countdown

Each time I look
at the lighthouse calendar
my aunt gave me
because the corners
wouldn't stay up
properly
and she knew
I loved night lanterns
on seaside shores,
I see I am a day
closer to you.

So many days,
years even,
have passed
between us
and who knows
what we'll say
when our eyes
meet again.

I tense at the thought
and then smile
because I know
whatever else happens
that seeing you again
will be worth
the six hour
butt-numbing flight
and four hour drive
it'll take
to bring me back to you.

We can't go back
or be who we were.
We can't conjure
the past
and become what we thought
we were going to be.

We can just be
who we've always been -
two people
who know how to move
around each other
and laugh with the ease
and grace and warmth
of the best of friends.