We are in our second trimester and the joy of being pregnant is bubbling over for Rose and I. We are starting to believe this baby will make it into our arms. It’s been a long, hot summer for us, swinging from one heatwave to the next, long stretches of days in the high 30’s or low 40’s where I’ve been sick, weak, exhausted, and stuck indoors for weeks on end. The weather is just starting to break and we’ve been having storms here, freezing rain, thunder and lightning. My beautiful love couldn’t resist and at 1 am went out to dance in the rain. When I finished throwing up dinner I caught this photo of her and snugged myself in a blanket to sit outside on the porch watching her and the lightning.

I’m getting windows of feeling well for a couple of hours some days at the moment. Rose has finished her last work contract and started full time study in Child Care which is making her extremely happy. The cooler weather is much kinder to me. Autumn is not yet here, but I can feel it coming. The garden is full of late roses and irises. We can turn off the air conditioning and open up all the windows and smell the wet earth and basil. My tummy is gently plumping and I sleep with a body pillow at night to ease the joint pain. There’s hope and friends and new books and lovemaking in the mornings. There’s joy again.