Aligned: prompt

The Moon in Daylight

Shadow

Yesterday, I was scrolling through photos, looking for cloud pictures for a Medium piece. As I went back in photographic time, I returned to a life when my grandchildren were here. Not only here but the center of my life.

They are no longer here or the center of my life. Distance and time changed our relationship to one of video chats and long breaks of no communication. Of lives unknown and unrecorded.

I have hundreds of photos of the children during the seven years they were here — living with us most of that time. It’s been more than a year since they came for a short visit. My photo memories for the past 15 months don’t include them.

My grandchildren, once the light of my life, are now the shadow. And, from time to time, that shadow drapes itself over me, telling me that my life is not what it was. Nor, should it be. But, that reality creates deep sadness for me.

A sadness that is like the moon in daylight.

Real but out of place.

When the shadow appears, my life gets out of balance. I feel poorly, get tired too easily, feel sluggish and depressed. Appliances that typically work well, don’t. Traffic is difficult. People are unreasonable. I am unreasonable.

The moon occasionally appears in daylight, but it fades, returning at its proper time. Our shadows need to do the same.

When we exist in the shadows, the sunlight can’t reach us. We stagnate like unmoving water. We fester like an untreated wound. We rot and stink.

I want my grandchildren here. But, that’s not under my control.

I must work with what I have.

I let the moon fade and the sunlight surrounds me.

This is my first response to Jean Carfantan’s Aligned prompt — the Shadow response. Later, I will cover Soul.