In another life
Things would have been different.
She would've been on the treadmill
Watching the chiefs win the Super Bowl
He would've been in the living room
Watching the nightly news
She would've hollered,
"Jim! They won!"
After that overtime play
Played out.
It's so odd to think
That that reality only exists now
In my memory.
That's how it was
For 60+ years
And then one day,
Grandma left.
And ten years later,
Grandpa died.
Now that reality no longer exists
Or ever has the opportunity to again.
Even the house lies empty,
Stripped bare,
The lives lived there all but forgotten.
In another life,
We would've called him
Yesterday
To sing happy birthday.
He would've been 82.
He would've bought the cookie cake.
He would've sent me a meme this morning.
I don't wake up to memes anymore,
But the chiefs still won
The Super Bowl.
He didn't turn 82,
But we still bought a cake for him.
It's odd how the world kept spinning
Even after his stopped.
Even after the reality that was
Ceased to exist,
The first time,
And then forever.
02/11/23