Elbows and Fingernails

You would think I was crazy if I told you that I miss my husband's elbows and fingernails, wouldn't you?

Well, I do...

We were living in our very first apartment when my husband left for basic training. Partway through his time there, I got tired of not having any pictures of him on our walls (I hadn't gotten around to hanging pictures.... I'm lazy like that sometimes). So, I went to work putting some up.

In one double frame I put a photo from our wedding, and a photo from our honeymoon. In the honeymoon picture, we were sitting in the sand with the ocean in the background--the camera was balanced precariously a few steps up on the staircase leading up to the my inlaw's beach house.. Husband had his arm around me and you could see this little corner of elbow peeking out in the picture.

Everytime I saw that picture, I'd look at his elbow and miss him--and his elbow--so much.

This time around, I keep thinking of his fingernails and his hands. I have a strange fascination with the sensation of having my fingernails played with... I miss seeing his hands playing with mine. I miss his fingernails.

You see--it's not that I miss random pieces of my husband... it's that I miss these intimate things about him that only I know. I miss knowing those things in person--tracing the profile of his face, or the softness of his lips. I miss his fingers entwined with mine, and brushing by him in the kitchen. I literally forget what it's like to feel him next to me, to see his face, to have a normal conversation with him. It feels so sad to forget things like that about the man I love so much...

I can't wait to remember!