17 years gone by
My mind works in strange and interesting ways. 17 years ago today, my life utterly changed forever. At about 7:00am on a bright and sunny Wednesday morning, February 8th, 2006, my first wife, Kim, took her final breath and slowly, quietly, seemingly peacefully died in our living room on a hospital bed we'd just arranged to have delivered as she ended her 14-month ordeal with breast cancer. Aged 39. I was 36. 17 years prior to that, I was barely out of high school; in fact, just in my freshman year of college. That thought sort of blew my mind. How much life had changed from 1989 to 2006 for me! And so it goes. And 17 years after Kim has died, my life has indeed changed greater still. I'm reminded of those changes, subconsciously or consciously, every day of my life. My wife, Erika, our two lovely children, our critters, our fears, our hopes, our lives...all our own. And yet, I couldn't have conceived of any of that 17 years ago today...