caregiver:
A person who cares for someone who is sick or disabled.
When we first met I never could have guessed the roles we would play in each others lives. I was on a destructive path and you seemed so broken. But you weren’t really were you? Physically there was so much of you that didn’t work, but everyday I could glance up from my work and see you laughing and interacting with such unbridled exuberance. I found myself admiring your strength despite all that you had been through. I found myself wondering what kept you from being bitter. Although we eventually would end up together, this was not the time in which it happened. I was simply a cook in the kitchen and you were a resident, a Quadriplegic. I could never imagine in my worst nightmares what you thought or felt that day so many years ago as the car you were in careened towards that utility pole. Eventually you awoke from your coma but with no real recollection of the accident. Everything you had once known had suddenly changed. Your body was broken, your brain had shifted and you were now facing what would prove to be the hardest thing you would ever have to deal with in your life.
Kelly Blake 2017