{"id":895,"date":"2019-02-28T02:36:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T02:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=895"},"modified":"2019-02-13T02:39:23","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T02:39:23","slug":"895","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2019\/02\/28\/895\/","title":{"rendered":"This Should Never Happen by Andy Betz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With degrees in physics and chemistry, Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 30 years. His novel, short stories, and poems are works still defining his style. He lives in 1974, has been married for 26 years, and collects occupations (the current tally is 96). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


This Should Never Happen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is Saturday and on\nSaturdays, I go to see Karen.  Today is\nher 67th<\/sup> birthday.  I am\nbringing her favorite desert (red velvet cupcake), but no candles.  The home Karen lives in does not permit any\nfire source (safety issues).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen began slipping away\nfrom me when she turned 62.  Her doctor\nsays her Alzheimer\u2019s is progressing rapidly and her time is short.  I will have to schedule as many days as I can\nbetween now and her final day to make the most of the time we have together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I bring the\ngrandkids with me.  It was easier when\nthey were little and she still remembered details about each of their\nlives.  However, as they grew, they\nnoticed their grandmother making mistakes. \nAt first, it was simple things. \nShe mixed up the names of the boys. \nShe forgot about Lucy\u2019s (her granddaughter) school play.  They starting asking the embarrassing\nquestions about Karen and then asked embarrassing questions in front of Karen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked my brother and\nsister if they wanted to come see Karen. \nThey told me this was solely my job. \nI know this sounds hurtful, but just like the grandkids, they also have\ntheir own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I am with Karen, I\ntake my time to make sure she is comfortable. \nI have heard horror stories about these types of homes.  Years ago, I worked for the state as an\ninspector.  I no longer have any\nauthority, but I still am keenly aware of the details that will make her\nremaining days as comfortable as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen talks with me, not\nwith a parent-to-child bond, but more of a friend-to-friend ease that only time\ncan cement.  I may have to reintroduce\nmyself each time I come to visit, but her eyes sparkle when she realizes I am\nsomeone who cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only those eyes would\nsparkle if she could recognize me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was unfair of me to\neven utter that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have no right to make\neven the slightest demands upon her.  She\ndidn\u2019t ask for her lot in life.  She\ndidn\u2019t do anything wrong to deserve this decay. \nMy Karen deserves so much more than what life has offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The orderly pokes his\nhead in to give me the two minute warning. \nVisiting hours go by so fast.  I\ntell Karen I will return again next Saturday morning.  She just smiles the smile I always remembered\nher having.  Her smile is the same smile\nher mother had when we met 68 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karen doesn\u2019t remember\nthat story of how her mother and I first met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I will remember it\nfor the both of us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With degrees in physics and chemistry, Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 30 years. His novel, short stories, and poems are works still defining his style. He lives in 1974, has been married for 26 years, and collects occupations (the current tally is 96). This Should Never Happen It is Saturday and … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sa867U-895","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":898,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}