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We drove
into our driveway on a cloudy Sunday afternoon. My
mother-in-law emerged from our front porch as clouds floated
above us. For weeks she??™d been ill, the family taking turns
hauling her to doctor appointments. She explained to us
she??™d been at the emergency room all morning. And her
husband of twelve years dropped her off but couldn??™t wait
for our return to church.
We tried
to laugh if off, for the tenth time the doctor??™s tests found
nothing physically wrong. She shook her head in disgust.
Her face with lines of eighty-three years, watched our
reaction. ???I??™m in pain,??? she said.
Both arms
pricked now, a new day of additional tests and analysis from
our family doctor, and results the same for the eleventh
time; we ate dinner in silence. Her thoughts could be heard
before she made them words.
???I??™m in
pain,??? she said. ???But I??™m going home.???
Age is
ugly. We are all just down the block from walking in her
shoes. Her happiness is not the same now, as the day she
married a man twenty years younger.
?© 2004
Carol Dee Meeks |
