Close Knit
Yvonne Cabalona
 

When did this creep up on me? This fear that we're not prepared? I knew all along they were aging—mom is 79, dad 82. It occurs to me my brother and I have to do a lot of talking and we have to do it fast. Mom always said we were a close-knit family but I secretly have my doubts. Mom buffers harsh reality with sprinkles of enchantment. If we were close knit, Sam and I would have discussed our parents' passing into old age by now. Thinking on the natural order of things, what would happen if Mom goes first? We have to discuss with them their plans for themselves.

Our phone call, the slight panic in his voice when he tells me they expect him to remember everything they're telling him, that he feels he has to do this all alone because he and his family live with them and I do not. I assure and reassure him that he won't be alone in this, that we will handle this together. We agree we have to talk first and then we have to approach Mom and Dad about their finances, the transfer of power of attorney, and their wills.

             winter storm
               holes pock
          a favorite bathrobe

Yvonne Cabalona resides in Modesto, California. She's a member of HSA, Haiku Poets Northern California, and the Central Valley Haiku Club. She has been writing and collecting haiku and haibun anthologies for about ten years and considers herself a beginner each time she attempts a new poem. She has been previously published in Simply Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, bottlerockets, and various Red Moon Press haiku and haibun anthologies.

Copyright 2008: Simply Haiku