Fall nights are cold…

…but so often, so clear. Hold your lover close, stay warm and enjoy the stars.

Happy Sunday, Happy November, and Happy stargazing!

“I don’t feel weak but I do need sometimes for her to protect me
And reconnect me to the beauty that I’m missin’”   -The Avett Brothers

Leandra’s heart has a case of unrest, and it’s what I admire and appreciate most about her.

You see, I have a big imagination, I have lots of ideas, and I have lots of dreams. The problem is, I usually feel content enough to wake up, enjoy my coffee, feel like I get some work done, eat, sleep, and repeat. I’m easily lulled into the day-in day-out routine.

Leandra, on the other hand–she does not rest easy when life becomes a routine and the larger goals and dreams we have aren’t being acted upon. Sometimes I’m so humbled by how full she wants life to be. Not full as in busy, no. But full of helping others, full of meaningful conversation, full of adventures, full of doing things well… full of being wide awake and aware of the life going on outside our computer screens in our little place in our little corner of Grand Rapids.

She challenges me so much to act on those things that I say are important. She reconnects me with life beyond the little pieces of it that directly concern me daily. I’m so grateful for the unrest she brings to our life together.

Leandra, thank you, thank you, thank you, for being in my life and reconnecting me to the beauty in it (which so often is you). Thank you for your patience when I’m forgetful about little things and big things. I’m so lucky to spend my days so closely to you and your unrest-ful, beautiful, heart.

-Grant

…but for nightowls like the two of us, that puts sunrise within reach!

Enjoy the last few golden and frosty mornings October has to offer–share a hot drink and a few quiet minutes with your lover.

When we were photographing Becca and Jason’s wedding in Traverse City, I spent the morning at Becca’s parents house with “the guys,” and I noticed this poem (by Robert Francis) on the wall:

Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light and light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me the clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me til
I’m half as wide awake as you.
And start to dress wondering why
I ever went to bed at all.
Tell me the walking is superb…

Sometimes I’ll read something or Leandra and I will be watching a movie or Lost, and there will be something said or written or shown that make me want to pump my fist and say “that’s what it’s all about” or “that is what love is like”. I’m usually not the fist-pumping type, but there are times when I’m just feelin’ it. I had to take a picture of the poem hanging on their wall so I could remember to tell Leandra.

I think everyday, in really small ways, the way things are have a way of lulling us into sleep. TV does it (which is why we got rid of ours)… and our computers certainly do it (we can’t get rid of them…we have to watch Mad Men and Lost somewhere!). I even do it to myself… we get put to sleep by little routines or habits or just by not thinking. And I’m so grateful that Leandra is in my life now, to tell me to get up and get off the computer, or to tell her what I’m thinking, or to spend an hour with each other instead of worrying about anything else. What’s been so astounding about being married to Leandra is coming to realize that there is another person in my life that not only knows me as well as I do, but sometimes knows me better…who knows me enough to wake me up when I don’t realize that I’ve been asleep.

Here’s a picture we took when we were in Boston with our friend Cameron over the Fourth of July. We were sitting on Boston Common, watching the fireworks, surrounded by thousands of people and seated directly behind this sweet couple:

We’ll have Kate and Tim’s full post ready soon but in the meantime, enjoy your Friday.