Her World

A lifetime of love and care to the man she met as a boy. He was world for so long that she could not remember a time when he was not in the center of it. They met in high school. Those were the times when women did not have the choices they did today. It was pre-written that she was to find a husband, have babies, and take care of her family. The fight for women’s equality had made big strides, but there was still a long way to go. It would not have made a difference to her anyway. She would have chosen him. She would have chosen the same life because of her love for him.

He was a driven man. His love for her drove him even farther. He took up a trade at an early age and struck out on his own. He wanted to be able to give her the world. The business took off right away but had him working long hours and late nights. He hired a staff but placed her right by his side in the office. He spent a lot of time in the field but still more time in the office than home. If he could not see her at home, he would make sure he spent some time with her somehow.

The first born came along, a boy. They were both over the moon. He hired her a secretary to help in the office. The little one went to work with his parents every day. He took his first steps there, said his first word, read his first book, and did his first magic trick. He found his love of magic there while performing for the staff. He would grow up to be a magician. The second boy came along a couple of years later. They did not see a reason to change the good thing they had going, so he was also brought up in the business. His love did not lean toward magic. His love was for the business itself. He wanted to be just like his father. The last child was finally the girl they were hoping for. They both spoiled her rotten. The boys also gave in to her frequently. After all, she was their baby, too.

They all saw signs of the father’s Alzheimer’s and all pitched in to make everything still work for him. The second boy took over the business in his mid-thirties. The father needed to stay home. She loved her husband and her son, so she divided her time. She was part time at the office so she could spend more time at home. A nurse had to be with him when she was not there. The worse the Alzheimer’s became, the more time she had to spend at home. Part of her felt as though she lost the love of her life all over again each day.

A couple of years went by. The life had taken a toll on her. She was unable to care for her husband the way he deserved. Even with the help of the nurses that came, she could not be who he needed her to be. She finally allowed the children to talk her into putting him into a home that was better equipped to care for him. He was all set up on a Wednesday afternoon.

The first Friday night she made plans to go to dinner with some ladies from her church group. She felt guilty for feeling so free. She did not want to be free of the man that she married, or even the children that she birthed. She wanted to be free of the man he became and the grown children. If she could have traveled back in time, that would have been the trip she would have chosen to take. Instead, she went to dinner with the ladies. It was raining, and hard to see her surroundings at her age. Maybe she was just distracted or caught up in her own thoughts. She made her way from the restaurant to her van without a clear view. She stepped out from between the cars, to be struck by a moving car. She lay on the ground consumed by the pain and waited for the ambulance.

Her recovery was all but swift. She was released from the hospital but placed in the same care facility as her husband. She had to go to a separate floor to visit, but they were in the same building. For more than six months, this was the arrangement. Her husband passed a few weeks before she was released. She was never the same. She had taken his place. Her children and the nurses were there to take care of her, but her body never fully recovered from the accident. Her world seemed to stop revolving at all once he was gone.