Over Troubled Water

Struck

How much has happened, all these months past. Your babies have grown, their big eyes absorb every corner of the world and then they lay there talking to each other about it during nap time. We sat in the next room laughing at them, trying to catch up amidst loose words and signed letters. Your eyes are the same, your laugh; you are in there.

The tears came later; they surprised my blurry eyes on the freeway and proved relentless through rerouted construction zones. I wasn't sure what I cried for. Or perhaps what I didn't.

We were so young together, once, do you remember? We had our entire lives ahead of us, and at every shaky moment we held each other's hands. Who would I be without your friendship lining my backbone? How can I possibly do anything to steady yours, now?

Your babies are beautiful. You hold them as though you'd never done anything else in your life. As though no evil could ever keep you from them. These were not the lives we thought we had to live. But they are ours, now. And I will hold your hand, forever.