by Jenn Parks (art by Melody Courley) Nine years that summer, my best friend and me Seventeen that school year, my boyfriend and me Twenty-four years young, my fianc\u00e9 and me Thirty-one and nine months, my husband and me Forty-five, getting tired, her daddy and me, Fifty-seven and retired, my teammate and me, Sixty-five years together, my best friend and me Toes by Jenn Parks (art by Melody Courley) Nine years that summer, my best friend and me Meandered the wheat fields adventurously. He always in blue jeans and I, a sundress, Never in shoes, despite parental requests. He laughed as I chatted with cows while they stood And he pretended to battle like he was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,937,582,581],"tags":[1335,1336,967],"class_list":["post-7789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarkfinearts","category-ozarkwriters","category-sotoarchive","category-sotofeature","tag-jenn-parks","tag-melody-courley","tag-writers-artists-night","category-949","category-937","category-582","category-581","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7789"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7791,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789\/revisions\/7791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeandered the wheat fields adventurously.
\nHe always in blue jeans and I, a sundress,
\nNever in shoes, despite parental requests.
\nHe laughed as I chatted with cows while they stood
\nAnd he pretended to battle like he was Robin Hood.
\nDay after day, our ventures would close
\nOn the dock at sunset, water licking our toes.<\/p>\n
\nMade prom plans beneath a hickory tree.
\nI picked a gown, then his tux and a tie,
\nAnd he nodded politely at my dad\u2019s evil eye.
\nThe night almost over, not a dance had we done
\nWhen the band leader announced, \u201cOk guys, last one.\u201d
\nI said, \u201cYou\u2019ll do fine,\u201d as I pulled him in close
\nAnd for three and a half minutes he tripped on my toes.<\/p>\n
\nMade big plans while he was down on his knee.
\nWe fought with a passion, but loved just the same
\nAnd I fancied to finish this life with his name.
\nSo we stood one fine day and promised the world
\nAnd the angels blew trumpets as our future unfurled.
\nThat night we made a pile of wedding dress and hose
\nAnd between cotton sheets brushed warmly our toes.<\/p>\n
\nTimed the contractions\u2014nervous parents-to-be.
\nYears of hope and frustration and wishes on stars,
\nThen she entered the world, a small girl only ours.
\nI cried when she cried, and he cried even more,
\nThen they whisked her away to assess Apgar score.
\nThey returned her to us; in her presence we rose,
\nA new love yet unknown as we kissed baby toes.<\/p>\n
\nOf the day to day same-ness and melancholy.
\nWe worked and parented, made dinner and cleaned,
\nWe kept us and her busy, while our marriage unsteamed.
\nBut we gave all we had, and we worked as a crew,
\nWhen her friends were no good and she endlessly grew.
\nTough times when our teenager refused to disclose;
\nWe were drained, but a team, and we stayed on our toes.<\/p>\n
\nFinally done working for the man; we were free!
\nWe cleaned out the attic, planted flowers outside,
\nPolished the crystal then gawked a moment with pride.
\nSoon the hundred things we never had time to do
\nWere done, so we opted for a change in the view.
\nWe loaded the RV and packed all our clothes,
\nThen we spent quite some time with the sand in our toes.<\/p>\n
\nHeld tightly once more at a quarter to three.
\nHis hand in my hand, as the minutes passed on,
\nThen time stole him away, his last breath had drawn.
\nI picked the best stone, placed flowers with care,
\nBut I felt so unbalanced as if walking on air,
\nTil I sat on his grave and his feeling arose
\nWhen I felt the green grass delighting my toes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"