Thirty-One

Did you ever imagine that this would be your life at thirty-one?

A premature retiree whose chronic disease has prevented her from working since she was merely twenty-five years old.

No longer living in Vancouver, the city where you thought you'd establish your career and life, grow old, retire, soak up the remainder of life, and die.

Living 123km away from your husband, only seeing each other for a week at a time every one or two months.

The question of having children now an even more daunting one with less clarity because how can this body possibly manage carrying and raising another human when it struggles to take care of just one.

Living in isolation with minimal human interaction in a new, smaller town where none of the family or friends you grew up with reside.

So uncertain about the future, your wellbeing, your survival, your ability to take care of yourself.

What a curveball life has thrown you. The path you had envisioned for yourself is now nowhere in sight.

No, this is not the life you had imagined at thirty-one.