The following poem appears in My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds. This is a memoir about how I met and married my late husband Bill, then cared for him at home for six years after he suffered two strokes that paralyzed his left side. My Ideal Partner is available free from Smashwords until the end of May. See below for details.
This poem describes what life was like for me at home alone while Bill was in the nursing home, recuperating from his first stroke. It also appears in my poetry collection, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver. You can click on the title to hear me read it.
WHEN YOU’RE NOT HERE
I listen to your music,
hear longing in the words,
sit in your chair
surrounded by the warmth,
eat your favorite food,
know your pleasure in the taste,
drink your beverage of choice.
My thirst isn’t quenched.
I imagine your body next to mine.
You’re not here.
***
If you’re on Facebook, you’re invited to a promotional event called Mayday Magnificence, in which I’ll be participating May 1-3. Authors, myself included, and businesses will promote their work and maybe share a few laughs. Please click here to join the event. I hope to see you there.
By the way, My Ideal Partner and The Red Dress are now available on Smashwords as part of its sale to support those isolated by the coronavirus. This sale will run until the end of May. Please click here to visit my Smashwords author page and download these books. As always, thank you for reading.
New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
***
