Driving By

I went to see Kathy LeClair this evening. That's a lie. I happened to be driving by Two Rivers and decided I had to stop. First time I've seen her since she left Seattle, August 4. I intentionally did not want to see her for these months. I wanted Seattle to just be gone, everything and everybody of Seattle to fall away while I got to life. But, tonight I stopped to see Kathy. She made popcorn. I washed my hands in her kitchen sink before eating and she wanted to get me a fresh towel to dry on. She told the kids that I get to scoop out of the bowl first since I'm still immune suppressed. My consummate care giver still at it. Shammond carried in a poinsetta. Korrina, Joshua and Steve were with me too. We stayed about ten minutes. I hugged and said thank you and "You look beautiful," which she did in a red cardigan sweater and her hair done up and her in her own kitchen and home instead of our two bedroom Seattle apartment. I would have gotten out of there just fine if she hadn't come out to the car after I'd already gotten in the driver's seat to leave. "I just have to have one more hug," she said, coming out across the lawn without her coat on. "I want you to stay warm," she said. When she hugged me through the open window of the driver's side, a flood gate of memories opened. She was with me in the exam room, she was rubbing my back, changing my dressing, making sure I got my medicine. I waved and honked. After a few minutes of driving in the dark, my cell phone rang. "You turned right instead of left," she noticed. "We made it out fine. Yeah, I got lost," I confessed, "But now we are on 42 headed north. We'll talk one of these days, without the kids." "I know," she said.