Saturday, September 24, 2011

There he was, just sitting on a picnic blanket in front of me.
It was a man, we'll call him Rich, and I'd worked with him 10 years ago, the year I became pregnant with Charlotte.
I had known for several months that my new acquaintance Kellie had a husband named Rich, but I'd never met him or seen a photo.
Then suddenly there he was, right in front of me. He had a new 5 month old daughter and I had my new 4 month old daughter and it happened so fast, because he and his wife were leaving the picnic as I arrived, that I almost could have missed the fact that the last time I laid eyes on him was the day I left work, on the second of May, to have my baby girl.
"You're Rich?" I staggered, so caught off guard to know this man already. I was frantically doing the math in my head at the time, trying to figure out which pieces of my life story were known to him.
He was, of course, Rich. And as he and his wife left with their baby girl I wondered if there was anyone else on earth who I had known up until the eleventh hour of my old life and had not seen since.
I cannot think of a single one.


(typed with one hand)

2 comments:

kris said...

What a snapshot.

I have been thinking of you...I will return to writing tomorrow night for the first time in 2 years. Your presence and words are still with me in that place.

Hope's Mama said...

Wow, amazing story, Carol.
xo