After I posted the blog, “Too many stories – Too little time,” that I realized I had left out the other person in that woman’s life – her husband. He was over six feet tall and good looking. I’ll change his name and call him Jim. I remember thinking about how skinny he was when I first saw him. Jim attended the local college and was just a few credit short of what he needed to graduate. His goal was a degree in English. One of the last times I saw Jim, we talked about his wife. He could not see her all that often because of transportation problems. Jim was worried because she would soon be discharged from the mental institution. He told me that he thought she couldn’t survive because she had become like a child. It brought to mind how I viewed her – she was beautiful, tiny, and had a sadness in her eyes that broke my heart.
Jim disappeared! No one knew where he had gone. I found another friend of his who was going to get together with Jim the next day over coffee. Jim never kept that coffee date with his friend. There are multiple stories about Jim and his wife, but somehow it feels “icky” to intrude into their space. It would be as if you were walking along and found Jim and his wife in an intimate moment. You wouldn’t stay and watch. You wouldn’t intrude by saying hello. You would turn away and walk away.
