The Moment

    Stopping what I was doing, I reached for the phone that was vibrating on my hip.  One glance at the number on the screen, and  I could see that it was my wife calling. 
    We had an agreement, any time she called me at work, I would answer the call...  And for her part, she would only call if it was important.  Truth be known, we both know how precarious life is, and that a moment ignored, is a moment lost.  So, I love to get her, "Hello's," just as much as she enjoys my silly calls.
    Flipping open the phone, "Hey baby, what's up?"       
    "Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to get your okay before making a major decision..."  Emmy says in that adorable tone she has, when she is about to propose something that she feels strongly about.
    In the breath she was taking, before pressing on, every possible scenario flashed through my mind.  Was there a problem with the house we were looking at buying, or some other large purchase that I had not thought about?  What could have her this amped up, but not be life threatening?  Reserving the urge to take up a defensive position on this loaded question, I waited for the other shoe to drop.
    "First, I know that you are super busy, but this couldn't wait," she says.  "Do you remember how bad I was feeling this morning, and that I was considering not going in to work?"
    In that instant before she could continue her story, last night and this morning popped up in my mind.  She had been nursing a heck of a head ache, which had also carried a bit of nausea with it...  Now, my sense of security didn't seem to be as clear as it had been a moment ago. 
    "And, do you remember how I was considering calling in sick today?" Emmy tells me.
    Perking up my ears, this is where I notice that the timbre of her voice is not the adorable, 'I want something,' tone that I thought it was.  There is a subtle edge to it that tells me that she is emotionally charged, and might have be trying to protect me.
    At thirty eight, an ex soldier, a survivor of two failed marriages, and a newly married man again, I am STRONGLY aware of the curve balls that life can throw you!  How everything can be all right one minute, and then spin apart the next.  Gone, are the naive notions that youth believes about immortality. Gone, is the delusion that we know everything.  And gone are the petty concerns over things that are not important!  We are married but for only eight months, and the possibilities seemed endless...  What could have her happy, sad, confused, crying, and every emotion in between?  These are my thoughts, as I let out a breath, and spoke with as even a reply as I could manage.  "Yes, I remember..."
    "Okay, before you say no, I wanted to ask if I could keep this poor little kitten that was hiding in the warehouse.  She is skin and bones, and may not make it, but she has the most beautiful eyes you have ever seen!!!"  Her words were coming in rapid fire, telling me how she had been summoned by the men in the warehouse, to come see if she could coax 'This cat,' out from under the vending machine. 
    When she went with the men to see what they were talking about, she found a kitten, not more than two weeks old, with barely any prospects of surviving the coming night...  At first, she asked one of the other women in the office if they wanted to take the little one, but the baby would only be quiet when she was wrapped in one of  the work shirts that Emmy had retrieved from her car! 
    The full details of this fragile life were then poured out to me, in a flow of maternal love.  Emmy's whole sales pitch had been delivered in one breath, covering no more than twenty seconds time.  Those twenty seconds were more than enough.  They conveyed the sum of a lifetime, to me...
    "But of course we can keep her, Emmy," I sighed with relief.  "I know that our other two cats," that had adopted me when I started dating her, "will not be too happy about this, but they will get over it." 
    On the other end of this phone call, I could hear Emmy softly crying.  They were tears of love and happiness.  Later she would relate to me that she knew that I would not have a problem with taking Elizabeth into our home, but thought it was only fair to include me in the moment.