r.a.m.s

dot and chill

*****

chill and dot, eye's great-grandparents, got married at age 33, had 3 kids, stayed married for 66 years, both died at 99.  chill and dot built their own house when they first arrived in crows nest pass. choosing the spot for their house was an exciting and rigorous process, dot and chill took many moments together to discuss the view, the sun, the surrounding hills and bluffs, the water, the feeling of the land. once they had settled on a location, they plotted out the footprint of their future home, cleared the trees, moved rocks and boulders.  following is an excerpt from chills daily log:

20 may 1880


i am happy. dot is somethin els. she is cleer headed, strong-willed an the most beeutiful women ever. spent the las 9 days cleerin the spot fer r new homested. on the las day we receeved a visit from a stranger, a kind man, sumthin of a preecher man we think. he was calm, smiled alot an spoke of god, spoke of the land we had, said it was sumthin special, that whoever lived in this spot woud lay down deep roots, strong roots, woud have a long loving life fulla off-spring as numerus as the stars up above. both dot n me were stunnd by this fellow, he was mysterius an fulla love. we invited him to dinner, to spen the nite.  when i woke up he was gon, jus a note he left, mor of a sine, a peece a wood with these words carvd inta it:

resignation
acquiesce
mutual insecurity
something unspoken

dot n me dont no what it meens but we hung the sine above r bed,  feels rite, lik a blessing. 

*****