Both of them are gone now. But for that moment at the Omaha Zoo, the ridiculous side was out. She struggled with the long walk. We didn’t know why at the time.

The other picture was after a great meal. She and Steve clearly gave their opinions of my constant picture taking.

Strange, because other than memories, that’s what I have.

Hundreds of pictures. I was lucky enough to have in-laws who saw the value of letting me scan a couple thousand pictures of her and her family. It was difficult to even try to sort them and decide which ones to share.

I had to include one of her with at least one animal. I have a trove of them. If she had her way, I would have been living in a menagerie. As evidenced by the picture, even fake animals.

Time.

It is the unrelenting bastard that guards the door.

Time.

.

I don’t post pictures of her very often. I demarcated my life into before and after. Life became a demonstration of quantum theory; her absence erased what could have and should have been.

.

I could only separate my life into before and after because somebody accepted my wounds afterward.

Despite all my lessons of appreciation, I fumbled that opportunity. I can’t blame it on the universe or an unseen illness.