Wednesday 20 June 2007

Sick Visit

Signed off work with stress, today I received a visitor. Carol, a long time friend and colleague, arrived at lunch, just in time to share Dan’s famous home made vegetable soup with crusty brown bread.

The expected rain had not yet fallen. The air was warm and humid as we sat on the patio in the intermittent sun, recalling my party, discussing the wedding plans, and forecasting Jon’s release.

Both of Carol’s sons are absent. One teaching in Japan, the other working on a cruise ship in the Med. She obviously misses them. Children eh! The pleasure and the pain. How you want to protect them from everything bad. But you can’t. How you want them to learn from your mistakes. But they won’t. How you want them to always love you. But sometimes they don't. You, never stop loving them.

As Carol was about to leave, I proudly showed her the symbols of my new status: a bus pass and senior rail card. A mere fifty-five, she looked envious. “Roll on sixty,” she said.

Copyright © 2007 Barbara Attwood

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