Going Places

When you get here there are places I want to take you. Parks, restaurants, castles. I want you to come here and not come back. I hope I can convince you to stay.

How are you doing? I haven't heard from you in a while. I guess you are busy with everyone finishing school.

Try to get lots of rest and eat well. I miss you.

Love,
Arley

Happier

Every day that passes I am a littler happier because I am closer to seeing you again. Please come soon my Babus. I do not know why, but it should be apparent that God is bringing us here for a reason. I just wish Rachel wanted to come too during the school year. Maybe once she comes she will change her mind.

Abigail

I miss all of you and want us to be together soon. Please tell Abigail we are going to find a place for her to stay with us so she can come soon. I think maybe the end of July and I can try to find another place to rent for July to September. Then we can rent a bigger place for everyone. I don't think they should stay away for a year.

Lease

Today I sent my signed lease contract to the landlord. Also I mailed my passport to Frankfurt for renewal. So l am all ready for you and Isaac to come. Also I've been looking at larger places to lease so we can all come together. Please hurry. Hope you had a good vacation day.

Love,
Arley

Splash Day

Today I rode by the Unterbacher See which is a lake that has a big playground and beach. I thought our kids could go there and have a splash day. There's also an indoor one for the winter that's closer to town we could go to.

I wish you could get a skype account with a webcam set up so we can talk to each other. Also once you come we can talk to our kids over it. I think they will miss you too much and we should plan to bring them soon, maybe August 1st. Here's a list of some larger apartments and houses for lease. We really need Valerie sold or leased soon so we can all be together.

Package

I received your package today! My best birthday present so far is my engraved ring. I'm wearing it right now. I also got the picture and the debit card. The greatest present, though, would be to have you here with me now. You were the only one that ever made me feel truly happy. Please hurry.

Love,
Arley

I sent you a picture of the ducklings. I saw lots of bunnies but they were too fast to take a photo!

Today I rode around our hotel to learn the neighborhood. It is very easy to walk to stores, restaurants, the train station. I found a park with a playground only a block away for Isaac.

I checked our package to the state department and UPS says it was delivered the 19th as promised. Please call them and show them the proof of delivery from the website.

I don't know what to say about your mom. But I do know that I will always be with you and never divorce you, no matter what. You are the only person that ever made me feel special and loved. No one else can compare with you.

Together

I am so happy when I think of you and I together again. I was so glad when I heard you say you had made the airplane and hotel resertvations. I went online and bought a bicycling rain jacket so I will be able to ride between work and our hotel even if it's raining.

Today I saw several ducklings and a mother duck. I will send you a picture. Think of this time as our special vacation reward. Like a honeymoon.

Love,
Arley

I miss you more every day. Please cone soon. I so want to be with you again. Only you could give me lasting happiness. I am getting everything prepared for you to come. Hurry.

Bicycle

I was riding my bicycle today and saw a rose that reminded me of you. It smells very nice. I was riding by fields that are full of flowers, they grow flowers to sell everywhere. I hope you can come soon, you are my rose, so beautiful and fragrant.

Neuss Hotel

Please come soon! I'm going to ride by the Neuss hotel today. I think you will like it as it is by some parks. I really look forward to us all being together.

Love,
Arley

A House

A house, a home. This is what I want to have with you. I want you to come soon so we can be together. We belong together. Come soon.

Each Day

Each day, you walk closer to me,
Every sunrise, your face is closer to mine;
Each chime of the watchtower, your hands reach for my own,
Every light of the stars, your eyes are unveiled.

Each child's laugh, your mirth rejoices,
Every playful skip, you dance a pliée;
Each city ride, your house is ahead,
Every country path, your fields drip with perfume.

Each morning's croissants, your breakfast with me,
Every evening kitchen, your dinner and mine;
Each embracing couple, your arms surround,
Every tearful goodbye, and I need you again.

Minlen May

Moonlight stillness
Open seascape
Brilliant expanse
Chirping birds
Yesterday's leaves
Watercolor petals
Flower-filled fields
Basking stars
Forested paths
Mountain backdrops
Harbor dim-sum
Snow-angel rest-stops
Ice-caked waterfalls
White-powder skis
Coat-warmed walks
Hanging Christmas-lights
Bush-sized dradels
Ocean-wave kisses
Volcano-red magma
Breakfast sushi
Guava-grove baskets
Sea-tossed cliffs
Jungle-hid tunnels
Thrice-kissed bedtimes
Soft-earth birth
Fogo de Chao
Gull-wing dates
Six-chaired tables
Fourfold hugging
Air-mattress escapes
Pear-tree ladders
Chapters unwritten

This
A lifetime
Of you and I
My one true love
My irreplaceable
Minlen May

Phone

Sorry my phone has run out of minutes. I will try to get it refilled Tuesday.
I found a place to stay but you said it was too expensive so now I have to start over. Now that the Internet is working I can write you a poem.

Love,
Arley

Again

Again I´m looking for an apartment, with no options on the table. Sometimes I think it would be easier to just buy a place. I still have many other things to do, like get my bank card, get my passport renewed, get an interview for residency. I am trying but not making much progress. I hope you can visit soon.

Love,
Arley

Homecoming

The bank account transfer and apartment rental should be completed soon. With these your visit is only days away. I will be so happy to see you again. It will be wonderful to have you next to me again. Today after seeing the apartment I am so much happier. I finally have something to look forward to.

Love,
Arley

Still Trying

Tomorrow I have an apartment showing. I will also try to schedule the showing for the residency interview. Once I get that it will be much easier to get things done. Soon we will all be together here, taking train trips to France, to the mountains of Switzerland, the tulips of Holland, a special time for you and me.

Thoughtless

Most of the time, I am thinking of nothing. I am only trying to exist in this moment. Breeze, water, sky, pavement. Work, food, work. To think, to contemplate, to fathom the incredible distance. To look down into the Rhine, in a straight line through the earth to where you are now, and how infitesimal you would be if I could see you. Like trying to ascertain the immesurable light years to the stars and galaxies. Only, what is so far is not a ball of hydrogen, but my very soul. To enter into this contemplation is to bring about tortuous sorrow, comfortless lonliness, inexcusable failure.

And so to choose life, to go on, I must choose to remain void, thoughtless.

Today

Today is gone, today is done, tomorrow is another one. From near to far, from here to there, I can't find an apartment anywhere. Today I was scheduled for an appointment, and at the last minute told that it was no longer available. Fortunately I met a Romanian guy at work who used to live in Kaiserwert. It is an area north of the city with houses, close to a hospital and the International School, and directly on a train route to work. Tomorrow I will try again. I will not give up until I have prepared a place for you, my May.

Love,
Arley

I am not here

When I am walking, it is not I who am walking. When I am sleeping, it is not I who am sleeping. I am not here. I am in a distant land, waiting to return to myself. I am here only as a ghost, an empty shell, a machine which produces saltwater Euros. When will I return to myself?

Together

Afternoon laziness
Riverbank pavement stones
Wafting pleasure boats
Dangling rustling leaves

Children in dresses
Waddling todlers
Snuggle-wrapped infants
Breeze-blown mirth

Golden tender arms
Windblown satin hair
Rain-soaked desert eyes
Together again

Else

I don't know what else to do, so I work all day. On the weekends I sleep and walk a long way. I don't want to sit still or at home and think of how much I miss you because it is unbearable. Please pray the we can be together soon. Whether rich or poor, here or there, I cannot be without you.