today i turn 51 years old. it is an extremely boring age to turn. neither young nor old. a milestone and some change. steve and i decided to reward me for this singularly unimpressive accomplishment with an iPhone 6, since i am doing so much photo editing and posting on my phone these days, and the bigger screen might be easier on my aging eyes. i was mildly pleased with the idea. it was about as exciting as turning 51. then steve emerged from the back yard with this maidenhair fern pinched between two fingers. he stopped in the doorway and held it out to me, with a look on his face like mr. darcy in the rain. after 10 years in this house, i had no idea that maidenhair fern grew in our back yard. it was one of the most beautiful things i’ve ever seen, with its black stem and curvy symmetrical whorl of delicate leaflets. we raced to the bedroom to find some white paper, and he held the fern carefully while I snapped its photo over and over again to make sure i captured its youthful freshness before it began to wilt. i was quite literally groaning at the beauty of each new camera angle. we stopped just short of reverting to our 20s, and tearing each other’s clothes off. so, for my birthday, you can give me the very cutting edge of today’s mind-blowing technology revolution. or you can give me something really exciting.

maidenhair fern

from my yard, saint paul, minnesota