Starting Over

She will never forget the first morning she woke up alone. The family had returned to their normal lives one by one over the past month. The last one, her daughter, had left yesterday.

The house was cleaner then it had been in a long time, and the fridge was loaded with food. Baked goods, assorted veggie trays, and casseroles were ready to fall out if the door were to open. She sat down at the kitchen table like she did every morning. Three bouquets of flowers took up all the room on the small wooden table.

Nancy strolled into the kitchen sitting up on her hind legs, begging for her breakfast. “I guess it’s just you and me now cat.” she whispered to her. The cat meowed back. She always had something to say back.

She dished out the cat’s breakfast, but wasn’t hungry herself. She didn’t bother making breakfast for herself if none else needed to eat. She wandered into the living room and thought she would see what was on TV.

She sat down in her soft chair, and gazed across the room at the big empty green chair. “I guess I get to choose the program she thought.” She knew how to use the remote. She was the one who would turn the TV down when the phone rang, or off when he had fallen asleep in his chair. She didn’t know what kinds of programs were on TV though. She had only ever watched the news or politics with him, or the cartoons with the grandchildren. She hadn’t realized there were so many other kinds of programs on TV. She found a rerun episode of the young and the restless. She really enjoyed watching the TV.

The phone rang. It was her daughter telling her she was home safe. They didn’t talk for too long before her daughter promised to call back every Wednesday and hung up. Her youngest son had also promised her he would be calling her once a week on Sundays. It frustrated her to think they were worried about her. She had taken care of herself for most of her life. And up until a month ago she had been taking care of her 95-year-old husband as well. She was happy to talk to them though, and find out what was going on in their lives, even though they lived so far away.

She watched TV longer, then got up in time to make lunch. She knew Irene was coming over on her lunch break, Irene had promised she would come over throughout the week. Although her oldest son wasn’t legally married to Irene, she considered her a daughter-in-law.

A neighbor came over in the afternoon for tea and a visit. She watched TV for the rest of the evening before going to bed.

Slowly her routine came together. Sophie called Wednesdays; Robbie called Sundays. Ron came into town every second day to visit, get groceries, and pick up her lotto tickets. Irene came for lunch during the week, and she had three different neighbors who would also visit throughout the week in the afternoons. She fed the cat and let her out morning and night. She read the paper every morning, and watched TV in the evening. She waited up late on Friday for her super 7 numbers on TV, and played NCI FM bingo on Saturday mornings.

She is happy, and she hardly ever feels alone.