WHEN THERE IS NO TURNING BACK

We all reach a point when it becomes apparent that the road is ending. Like Robert Frost, who famously wrote about two diverging paths; which shall we take?

In this new age of cobid virus, sometimes we have no choice.Without knowing where that path may lead, we are set upon it.

Lack of choice is something we asa humans are not accustomed to believing. But what happens when one person is forced to take the left hand path and the other sets out on the right?

These dilemmas are being faced by people all over the world right now. So what happens now? Suppose the outcome is not good, as happens far too often?

My daughter is asking those questions right now. Her dear husband with whom she she was to celebrate one year of marriage two days ago, took the right hand path through no choice of his own.

We all wait. We hold our communal breaths and listen for the phone to ring. Is there good news today? What transpired in the night? Why am I kept away? These are not her questions alone.

This man who lies hooked up to tubes filling every body cavity, and who blessedly is unaware of the benevolent torture going on inside him, seems to have been sent to heal the broken heart caused by the death of another husband. He fulfilled that chore admirably, while gaining joy miossing from his own life. It was all too short in time. A friendship of seven years, a marriage of one year. It hardly seems fair.

But consider those seven years’ filled with travel, fun, and a previously unknown sensitivity. Some are not that fortunate.

Her questions are familiar to anyone going through this pandemic. They are endemic to all of us’ what will I do? What happens to me”?

My daught comes from strong female stock. She is a strong woman who will grieve for a time and then he better angels will take over, and allow her to feed on the good times and know that she has been blessed with a good and kind man who brought her much happiness. And life will begin once more.