What do you see # 347- 29 June, 2026
Before 8:16
#WhatDoYouSee
#WDYS
There are moments in life when time is measured by clocks.
And then there are moments when time is measured by a single phone call.
For me, that moment came on 29 June 2023.
One ordinary afternoon.
One call.
“I’ve fallen outside IKEA. I think I’ve broken my hip.”
At first, we thought it was only a broken bone.
Hours later, two heart attacks.
Days later, an airlift.
Weeks later, words no wife is ever prepared to hear:
“There is nothing more we can do. Prepare yourself.”
That day, the clock did not stop.
It kept ticking.
But my life split into two chapters:
Before 29 June 2023
After 29 June 2023.
The woman I was disappeared quietly.
In her place stood someone who learned how to wash her husband in bed, change sheets without moving him, empty bedpans, hold fear in one hand and hope in the other.
Someone who celebrated tiny victories—
the first time he sat in a wheelchair,
the first journey to dialysis that wasn’t on a stretcher,
another sunrise together.
Three years later, the clock still moves.
The ambulance still comes three times a week.
The future is still uncertain.
But so is hope.
When I read the words,
Can you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?”
I smiled sadly.
Because life didn’t tell me who I should be.
It revealed who I already was.
Stronger than I believed.
Gentler than I imagined.
Capable of loving far beyond comfort.
I still remember the woman from before.
But today…
I honour the woman who survived after 8:16.
She is tired.
She is grieving the life she once knew.
And she is still standing.
One heartbeat.
One dialysis appointment.
One day at a time.
#WhatDoYouSee #WDYS
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
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