HI SON, I’M DOING FINE!
by Nina Poznekoff
I don’t know how to tell you this, because you don’t know a lot of what has been going on lately. The powers that be have been testing me for cancer, son, and I had to wait for the news. The waiting and the fear were the worst part. I couldn’t believe that life went on as normal for the rest of the world, while I sat, stomach churning, waiting to see if my life would even go on. I wanted to tell you what was happening, but have seen too much hurt in your eyes during your young life. I couldn’t and wouldn’t subject you to more hurt until I knew for sure. You see, son, I know that you love me.
I’ve had more than my share of hard times and have to admit that there were moments when I didn’t care if my life went on. How silly that seems now, although back then, I believed that life could not get any worse. Once I heard the news that I was pregnant with you, you became my reason to go on. You were my reason to take breath after breath. You continue to be my reason.
I guess now you understand why I’ve been acting so weird lately. While I waited, I wanted you with me because you make me laugh, you make me forget life’s sorrows, and you make me want to keep trying. Do you have any idea how amazing you are? And, don’t get me started on your sense of humour! That is a real gift.
Even though you live five hundred miles away, I guess you understand now why I called you home for the “extreme landscaping emergency” that couldn’t wait to be fixed and had to be done by only you. You took time off work, drove all day, and came in the door expecting to see broken pipes, a dry well, or, at the very least, the ground dug up by gophers. It must have been pretty anti-climactic for you to see that the lawn needed mowing and I wanted a few rose bushes trimmed.
Patiently, you sat me down and explained that, maybe in Mother-World, this made sense. In the real world, a lawn-boy could have been hired for twenty bucks, max.
I still laugh at the time when you were a little boy, and you came up to me and said, “Mom, when you get old, like maybe forty, do I have to look after you, or can I put you in a home?” You were so serious and I could tell that you had given it a lot of thought. That happened over twenty years ago, and you continue to jokingly threaten me with a ‘home’. “Shady Pines, Mom, one-way trip for you!” I’m thinking the “landscaping emergency” was the closest I’ve come to you making that one-way trip a reality.
The Doctor has told me I don’t have cancer, son. It’s a good thing the news came when it did because I was about to call you home for an “extreme electrical emergency.” Electricity is nothing to fool around with and I was quite concerned about you tackling this job by yourself. I have called the electric company and they agreed to send a man out to help you. I also requested that the power be cut off to the whole house while you’re working on this. Think about it, son, because even though it’s no longer “an extreme emergency”, I know that you are best qualified to deal with this situation. Besides, it would be nice to have you home.
You see, son, the light bulb has burned out in the hallway...
Nina: I live in British Columbia, Canada and enjoy writing non-fiction short stories. I always knew that I was to write, but life never seemed to give me the time or opportunity. Now, I have both, and finally feel that I am living my destiny. I give credit to God, who inspires my words, and to my son, Steve, who unknowingly and sometimes unwillingly gives me so much writing material.
