I came into the Pole Barn four or five years ago – I think it was on Valentine’s Day – to find these two hearts painted onto the very dirty windows of the old barn. It was some graffiti of love, painted by a street artist who lived with me on the farm, and I have always cherished it, even though almost no one but the two of ever sees it. Maybe that’s why.

it is the kind of personal grace and affection I have come to expect from my wife, who knows how to love someone like me, perhaps the first person who ever did.

Yesterday, the hearts were covered with dirt, today, a finger had freshened them up. I think someone many years down the road will look up one day and see the hearts, then covered in love, and perhaps wonder about the lucky people who loved them.