I have heard her say day after day how much she loved him

I watched her carefully strut her way down the stairs

Gentle hands gliding down polished banisters

I gazed as I saw her purposely choosing every little morsel of lunch

That would go with him that day to work

Every ingredient chosen with love

Every flavor representative of the massive amounts of

Care she had for her little boy

A boy that wasn’t so little anymore

And her

Always entering a room with a gleaming smile

Ear to ear

Dimples like the oceans

Filled with darkness

Holding secrets

But we would never know

That little boy

Memories

Swinging on the swing set

Memories

Running along the beach

Memories

Trips to Hawaii

Smiles

cheek to cheek

Sparkles in each others eyes

She never would of known

That she would wake up the next morning

To a beautiful sunrise

That was devoid of her baby

A world in which he was no longer there

That he would have been so lost

And somehow, she never knew

She didn’t see the pain he held

She didn’t see the quiver in his lips

As he forced his smile

The twitch in his eye lid as he held in the tears

How could she ever have predicted that he was so hurt

That he would feel that the only answer was that shotgun

That he would feel an emptiness too vast

That to not exist sounded less lonely

I see her now

She holds herself together

Smiles at the sunset

Memories

In Rome

Memories

Along the beach

Memories

Of the little boy

Memories of the happy times

Or at least

Of the times

She thought he was happy