Christopher Goodwin FACEBOOK
Day 8 today, 8 days without seeing my girl, as long as I have gone in 13 years. 8 days, I have been in a jail cell in Africa longer as the clock ticks, as I placed pebbles on the ledge, seems longer now.
I was 8 days snowed into a cave once, that too was easier and on the ninth day the weather broke.
I have three more now. 8 days, I spent 89 days in the desert alone except for my dog, in my memory it was shorter, or had more purpose.
Four times longer I have been at sea, long enough to get over sickness and to acquire it again when I landed.
8 days, I was sick for that long in a small hot room in Central America, Typhoid they told me it was, all I remember was the feeling of cold tiles on my face and the ache in my stomach, bare light bulbs, a dreamy IV, my dog barking, like a truck had run me over, like a ketchup packet under a child’s heel.
Three days and she will return but for how long? Soon enough she will set out on her own life. A parents lot is a difficult one, feeling trapped, feeling lost without them, fearing their departure as much as you hope for it. Envy, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, relief and acceptance several times each day. It is an unconditional relationship you struggle to pretend has conditions.
Three days I have to wait, three days working late.