Conflict

I saw a woman walking out to her car tonight. I see people doing similar things all tnhe time when I am walking out here, but tonight something was different. I don't know what it was but I heard myself asking her if she needed help.

She said no, but then walked over to where I was and started talking. She was moving up here from Arkansas after a fifty year marriage. I expected to hear her husband had died, but it turned out her story was a lot like mine. She was just getting a later start.

And she needed to talk.

I had almost forgotten what it was like at the beginning. The hopes. The fears. The confusion.

She has sons and grandchildren here, so she is lucky.

We talked a long time, then I went on with my walk.

She said I should knock on her door sometime and we could walk together.

I was surprised at how conflicted I was about that.