winds of change: Nov. 10, 2015

Partly cloudy gave way to clear air at sunset. The last of the doors locked, alarm set, temperature slowly slid from the high of 84 degrees, 29 Celsius. The black vehicle interior hot, AC blasted, joined the parade homeward bound, headlights on, only a forty-five minute commute. Planned in my head Wednesday’s schedule, the customers to contact, the vendors to order, the staff to manage: did not know I would never return there to work. The driveway was dark. The house was dark. The change I had dreaded for 30 years was at hand. She was on the couch, alive, but in severe pain from a shattered left ankle seven hours prior. Her phone was out of reach. The change from full-time employee to full-time caretaker had begun.

red overtakes blue
sky rotates into black void
two days to new moon

Haibun Monday at d’Verse Poets prompts to write about changes and how they affect life.

My wife has had Type I diabetes for 45-years, on an insulin pump for 15-years and on nightly peritoneal dialysis for nearly two years. She spent three weeks in the hospital during the first ankle surgery, was released, fell at home the next week and broke the same ankle again. Another three weeks for surgery and complications followed by daily home nursing visits and medications over the next six months. She started walking in July and I started writing again. As changes go, it’s turned out to be a plus.