Birthday

The San Francisco Office of the County Clerk is bustling with wedding parties. At least eight couples, along with their retinues of family, friends, and photographers, are crowded into the narrow hallway separating me from the freshly inked stamp that is about to change my life. I'm beaming. And my heart feels like a water balloon in my chest, an ocean full of months of grief in a strained and slippery sack, an amniotic wonderment from which a labor of love will soon be born. I am no bride. My partner is not by my side. But clutched in my right hand is a portrait of us together, and in my left an official business registration form with a number clipped to it that's about to be called.

It's Rusty's birthday. Today, he would have been 56. Today, my dream business shares a name day with the man who inspired me to create something of my own in this world. I sure wish he were here to partner with me on this venture, but in some way he always will be. And if I can muster even half the gumption he had in his endeavors, I'm going to make a raucous success of this thing.

Thank you to everyone who has supported all the thinking, talking, and imagining of this project so far. The doing is officially underway!

Welcome to the world, Lyre & Vine.

Happy Birthday, my love.