And then it hits me. Unexpectedly I see what most people wouldn't even notice. A sign just off the freeway that I travel 156 times a week. But today it's different. I see the sign and a bolt of lightning flashes through my eyes forcing each shut for a split second. I let out an audible sigh reacting to the feeling of being briefly punched in the stomach. The sign simply read: "Shopping Center Open in August 2009"...which seems harmless. But seeing it today reminds me that I saw that sign during my 13- weeks-of-pregnancy-bliss, and used it as a benchmark. Yes, I had something to look forward to just like the consumers of my city. By August 2009, I would be a mother finally. Finally.
After doctors, tests, needles, surgeries, more doctors and even diagnoses, pregnancy was finally happening. Then the worst happened and we/I lost the baby. Gone. Now I see the sign and remember how happy I was thinking of that time in the not-so-distant future. Not this time. Not the summer of 2009.
