Sunday, January 21, 2024

Mrs. O'Connor- Life Askew

 I'm a Libra. 

 Balance matters to me.

 

Equilibrium.

 

I was born on October 22, a palindrome. Perfection.

 

Twenty-two served as my lucky number until January 14, 2002.

 

Heroin stole Keith that day at 22, a baby.

 

Heroin forced me to live forward without my brother for 22 years.

 

We no longer shared memories of the past, present, or future.

 

That’s unnatural.

 

We were supposed to grow up together.


I visited my brother at the cemetery today, January 14, 2024.


I released two, helium-filled, black, 34-inch number two balloons into the sky.


The wind carried them.


The number 22 soared higher and higher away from me.


The tipping point.


When I wake up tomorrow, I will have lived longer without my brother than I lived with him.

 

The scale will tilt.

 

Disproportional. Lopsided. Askew.

 

Heroin broke me; maybe more than it broke my brother.





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