March 11, 2009

The Inevitable March

Filed under: fatherhood, random — posted by bill @ 9:07 pm   Email This Post Email This Post

It’s 8:47pm, and it’s today, and it’s March 11th.

It’s 9:00pm, March 11th, 1994, and my sister goes into labor with her son Parker, who will be born the following day.

It’s the afternoon of March 11th, 2006, and my father gets married in his backyard.

It’s 9:00pm, March 11th, 2006, and Jill goes into labor with Nate, who will be born the following day.

It’s 10:00pm, March 11th, 2006, and Jill’s Gram Summerville passes away quietly in her bed, and she is 97 years old.

It’s 9:00pm, March 11th, 2008, and my father passes away quietly in his Hospice bed, and my sister and I are kneeling beside him.

Sometimes the string of time is tightly drawn, with one point lining up obediently behind the other, and sometimes it’s balled deeply between the twin fists of context and perspective, with both ends touching the middle.

And we cry, and we whisper into new ears or pressed against smooth pine, and we promise to love, and to know, and to never forget.

And it’s 9:04pm, and it’s today, and it’s March 11th.