All Right So Far

Synopsis:
(the true story of a marriage and health crisis hurtling out of control)

Even before they married, they were the best of friends: both of them eager and earnest, one of them dynamic and fun-loving, the other more reflective. They designed and built three houses in succession where they raised two creative, considerate children. They adopted a series of stray cats in different colours and they tended their flower and vegetable gardens a little way from town. They gave to the world by teaching children and by envisioning and bringing to life, entertainments in music, figure skating, blacklight theater, and good old-fashioned fun. Always they dreamed of the water, and when the time was right they moved to a cliff overlooking a lake. Around them the forest stood quiet, and nearby, cows grazed in a field. Life was as it could be and should be, until . . .

Status: completed in rough, "Resting." Not looking at it for a long time, to get some emotional distance from the story.

Excerpt:
Several people, knowing my love for words, brought poems and sayings to share with the group. Bonnie gave out cards which spoke of our walk through life, and how, even when we have a fall we need to keep dancing.

I'm sure this was an instruction to the spirit rather than thebody, but a few nights later, Carl and I found ourselves in our diningroom playing a scratchy old LP record of a longtime favourite tune: At Last. With Carl's legs likely to stumble, our dancing had changed so that our feet stayed in a fixed position. But we held one another and felt the sweetness in the music:

"At last, my love has come along,"
"my lonely days are over"
"and life is but a song."

The previous night, Carl had suggested playing charades, and this sent me into gales of laughter. The idea of a husband and wife spending their evening playing charades seemed so outlandish, so delightful, so typically Carl!

The harder I laughed, the more insistent Carl became, holding up fingers in front of my face: "Four words . . . first word . . ."

Michael told me the next day he had approached our room carefully, unsure whether he was hearing laughter or hysterical crying . . . I guess we sounded like a small but wild house party. Insistently Carl held his hand up: "Four words . . . first word . . ."

And so we face the unknown future, and many days we cry, but some days we laugh, and we hold one another, and we dance:

"You smiled and then the spell was cast"
"And here we are in heaven"
"And you are mine at last."