When a Wife Flies Half-Way Round the World

[After I wrote this, I understood why so often when one half of a long term-- 40, 50, 60 plus years--couple dies, the other often passes soon after,] When my wife flew half way round the world to see her father in China, I thought, well, only for two weeks-- piece of cake.... Then something strange happened--the house got twice as big! And it felt empty, oh so empty, as though abandoned by life.... Then time itself slowed down, so slow that days passed leaden, like boring speeches that went on and on, so slow I could hear Old Man Time dragging his feet and I wanted to scream.... I hadn't realized-- after 40 years, she is a part of me, not, repeat, not figuratively, not a metaphor but a part of me, if not body, the certainly soul.... And when she returned, after 15 hours in the belly of a big bird, our house shrunk back to its normal size, Old Man Time began marching briskly again, and my soul was once more whole....