In Passing Defined

Driving to work today, in that early half-light hour when red houses appear black and the surrounding mountains are dark and blue as stones in a deep pool of water, I got to thinking…since the passing of my wife, I am defined by that loss. This is how I see myself. This is how everyone else sees me. My friend Kevin, who lost his wife two years ago, and who now regularly calls me late at night when he is drunk just so that he can wake me and tell me that he loves me, once said: “You will not see some of your friends for a while because they don’t know what to say to you. They are afraid to come around.”

I don’t mind that Kevin calls me late at night.

--Mitchell Hegman