Next of Kin

Over the weekend he was hobbled by horrible pain

and by Monday he found himself waiting for a CT-scan.

As he looked around the waiting room, he was struck by the obvious:

Everyone else was accompanied by another person,

yet he was all alone—

an unexpected slap in the face

in a long line of face slaps…

It all started when he tried to reach his wife.

She didn’t answer the phone on

his first, second, third or fourth attempts.

He rushed home and frantically searched the house 

in fear that something had happened to her…

His fear was realized, 

but this was not one of the scenarios that raced through his head:

There on the bed pillow was a stunning letter…

With fingers trembling, a catch in his throat,

in disbelief, he read in a dismissive letter

that his wife had run off with another man,

a man who was living right under their nose as a hired hand,

a hired hand who had been helping himself to his wife!

A marriage of 20+ years and two kids later

evaporated before his very eyes…

and now he found himself all alone in a waiting room

with no one to comfort him or drive him home…

In a parallel life

His friend was injured in an accident

Suffered a traumatic brain injury

and while she was recovering,

the unthinkable happened:

Her husband lost patience with her recovery,

needing attention she wasn’t able to give,

a ravenous desire he decided to feed, no matter the cost…

So when she was well enough to travel for the first time,

he took the opportunity

and there was no looking back—

He was gone, gone, gone…

After 28 years, she suddenly faced what felt like widowhood

because her husband had died or should have…

Mastering and mustering self-love, 

she picked up the pieces, moved to a new city, took a new job…

Triggers of pain come in many forms, all of them unwelcome

It might be that moment when he was unexpectedly devoid of a designated driver

Or in her case, filling out all those seemingly innocuous forms

required by her new employer, her new doctor

“In case of emergency…”

With obvious, halting hesitation, 

they need to redefine their Next of Kin.