And that's when I saw you

We sat together by the fire enjoying the beautiful evening Our surroundings were quiet, as were we Flames hypnotized us into a peaceful trance Trees stood as our only witness to this beautiful night.

The red wine, a fine cabernet, dissolved the walls of apprehension You held my hand that rested in my lap A gesture of your contentment in that moment Out of the blue, you broke the comfortable silence and spoke.

Of a time when you were a young man just finishing school Of the expectations of a father you would not fulfill The moment he chastised you for your disobedience The anger that altered you and chased you far from home

You spoke of the hurt that you carried in your heart Why you moved far from home and rarely returned You never spoke a word to your mother or siblings about it Forty years you have carried this burden, I could feel the weight in your presence

I froze not knowing how to respond to your confession I stared intently at the flames of the fire While you relinquished the turmoil of your broken soul I turned briefly to face you to show you I was listening to every word

In the eight years we have been together You have never opened your heart to me as you did this night I turned to you to offer words of compassion, then stopped I watched as your hand came to your face to brush away a tear

"And that's when I saw you" In all your beautiful, courageous, vulnerability Removing the band aid to show me a deep festering wound in your soul A man willing to release the burden of a traumatic moment that haunted him

It was a most significant moment My love for you in that moment was insurmountable I had no words to offer you, just my presence and my attention Our relationship took a deep dive into a place we had never been before

A peace entered our union that night Something we need not speak of again A dissolution of fear, apprehension, and self- consciousness occurred We were free to be as we were in all our beautiful brokenness