He told me that together we were going to build something.
He told me about the house we would buy, the big yard, the life that would look like what I had been working toward.
He was a pipeline welder.
He made good money when he was working, which was on a rotation, weeks in North Dakota or Wyoming or wherever the job was, weeks at home.
When he was home, he was present.
He had opinions about what I should do with my days off.
He had opinions about my friendships.
He had opinions about my hours.
He called my dedication to nursing my hobby.
He said: you treat that job like it’s your whole life.
He said: I need you to be here when I’m home.
He said: I take real risks out there.
These are the things you see clearly in retrospect and that you see through fog at the time.
