by Lisa Genova
I think back to those early days at Baldwin, when I was the new woman with Neglect. It feels like a million years ago and just yesterday. Without knowing anything else about this new woman with Neglect, I feel a connection to her, like when I hear of someone who went to Middlebury or HBS or when I meet someone from Welmont. However different we are, we share a similar life experience.
There are times now when I forget that I have Left Neglect, but it’s not because of an unconscious unawareness like it was in the beginning. I know I have this. So I don’t try to walk without my cane, thinking that my left leg works. I know I need help getting dressed, so I don’t do it by myself and then leave the house with my shirt half on and my left pant leg dragging behind me. And I don’t use the stove because I know it’s dangerous (not that I used it much before). I know that I need to constantly remind myself that there is a left side, that I have a left side, to look left, scan left, and go left, and even if I do, there’s a good chance that I’m still registering only what’s on the right.
But when I’m not walking or reading or searching for the carrots on my dinner plate, when I’m relaxing in the sunroom or talking with the kids or having a glass of wine on the couch with a friend, I feel perfectly healthy. I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with me. I’m not a woman with Neglect. I’m Sarah Nickerson.
“How’s Martha?” I ask.
“Oh, she misses you terribly,” she says, smiling.
“I’m sure.”
“I’m glad we finally found the time to do this,” she says.
“Me, too.”
Heidi has called to check on me at least once a week since I came home from Baldwin. She’s also stopped by many times, usually when dropping off Charlie after basketball. But between her work schedule and me being in Vermont every weekend and school vacation days, we hadn’t found time to get together for our wine date until now, almost the end of March.
“I love your house,” she says, having a look around the living room.
“Thank you.”
“I can’t believe you might move from here.”
“I know. It’ll be a big change if it happens.”
“Tell me about the job.”
“It’s the director of development for NEHSA. I’d be responsible for developing and growing their strategies for raising funds. So finding corporate sponsors, donors, leveraging relationships to help market the program, writing grants. It’s twenty hours a week, and I could work at least half of those hours from home.”
“It sounds like the perfect job for you.”
“It really does. All the business skills I’ve accumulated at HBS and Berkley give me the ability to do the job well. And my disability gives me the empathy and experience as someone who has benefited from NEHSA to do the job with passion. I’d be contributing in a necessary way to an important organization that I believe in. And the hours are perfect.”
“What about Bob? Would he be able to work at NEHSA, too?” she asks.
“No, no. The organization is mostly volunteer. And he’d want something else anyway.”
Heidi checks her watch. My old watch. It looks good on her.
“Where is Bob?” she asks, realizing the late time.
The kids and my mother are already in bed.
“Still at work.”
“Wow, late night.”
“Yeah.”
I don’t elaborate. While it’s not atypical for Bob to have stretches where he needs to work late every night for a month, this particular stretch began right about when I turned down the job at Berkley, and the timing feels too exact to be coincidental. He could be working extra hours to ensure that he, as our sole breadwinner, doesn’t get laid off, or he could be under even more extreme pressure to help his weak company survive to fight another day, but I think he’s simply avoiding me and my job offer in Vermont.
“When would you go?”
“Well, NEHSA needs an answer from me ASAP, but I wouldn’t need to start until the fall. So we have some time.”
“So, what are you going to tell them?”
“I want to tell them yes, but I can’t unless Bob feels confident that he can find something up there, too. We’ll see. If it doesn’t work out, I’m sure I can find something around here,” I say, not sure of this at all.
“What about your mom? Would she go with you?”
“She’s going back to the Cape for the summer, but she’s coming back to live with us after Labor Day.”
“And what does she think about living in Vermont?”
“Oh, she loves it up there. Better than here.”
“And what will you do for help in the summer?”
“If we’re in Vermont, Mike Green’s niece is home from college for the summer and needs a part-time job. She’s nannied for years, she’s in school for nursing, and Mike thinks she’d be great with me and the kids. And if we’re here, Abby will be back from New York in May and said she could nanny for the summer.”
“Sounds like you’ve got everything lined up but Bob.”
“Yup.”
Everything but Bob.
CHAPTER 38
It’s the last weekend in March, and while most parts of the country are enjoying the beginning of spring, Cortland is celebrating its annual Forever Winter Festival. Bob, Charlie, Lucy, and I just finished eating lunch in the main lodge after a full morning on the slopes. My mother and Linus spent the morning at the festival, and now Bob and the kids want to go, but I’m feeling too tired. We decide that Bob will drop me off at home for a nap, and he and the kids will go without me.
The festival is a weeklong affair, quintessential small-town Vermont and great family fun. There are snowman contests, bonfires and s’mores, hot cocoa and snow cones, ice-skating on the lake, cross-country ski races, and live music. And all the local businesses sell their goods at the festival market—maple syrup, fudge, jams, cheese, quilts, paintings, sculpture. We’re in the car, and I’m reading aloud from the festival brochure to get the kids excited.
“Ooo, they’re having the dogsled races today!”
“Maybe I could be a professional dogsled musher,” Bob says.
“Yeah!” yell out Charlie and Lucy.
“And ice fishing,” I say, trying to stay on the subject of the festival.
“I could be a frozen lake fisherman,” Bob says.
“Yeah!” cheer Charlie and Lucy.
“Bob,” I say.
“Or I could raise cows in the yard and make ice cream!”
“Yeah!” they yell, giggling.
I laugh, too, but only because I can’t help picturing Bob with his shirtsleeves rolled up, trying to milk a cow.
“And I could have my own ice cream truck, and I’d be the ice cream man!”
“Yeah!” they shout.
“Do that one, Daddy,” says Lucy.
“Yeah, be an ice cream man!” says Charlie.
“The votes are in, babe. I’m Vermont’s newest ice cream man. I’m going to need a white truck and a hat.”
Again, I crack up, picturing Bob in the hat. I’ve also added red suspenders.
It feels good to joke around about this topic. Our conversations about Bob’s job and Welmont versus Cortland have been charged and stressful with no resolution as of yet. He’s at least open to the idea now, and he’s actively looking for a job in Vermont. But he’s picky. If he wasn’t finding anything suitable enough for him in Boston, I have less and less faith with each passing day that he’s going to find anything acceptable to him here.
We pull into our driveway, and Bob helps me out with the car still running.
“You got it from here?” he asks, handing me my cane.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Will you bring me home some fudge?”
“You got it. I’ll watch to make sure you get in.”
I walk down the gravel pathway to the front door. I let go of the cane, turn the knob, and push the door open. Then I turn and wave good-bye as Bob pulls out of the driveway. I’m gett
ing better and more confident at standing without relying on the cane or holding on to anything, and it feels thrilling to experience even a few successful seconds of standing on my own two feet.
As I walk through the mudroom, I hear a high-pitched whistling sound. It sounds like the whistle from one of Linus’s battery-operated trains, but he should be smack in the middle of his three-hour nap. He’d better not be up playing with trains.
“Mom?” I call out, but not too loudly in case he’s napping as he should be.
I walk into the living room. My mother’s asleep on the couch. Linus must be up in his crib. Good. But the whistling sound is louder in here. And constant. Maybe the button to one of his electronic trains is stuck pressed in. I look around the living room for the train, but I don’t see one anywhere. The room is clean, and all of Linus’s toys are put away. I check the TV. It’s off.
I granny cane over to Linus’s toy box and listen. The whistle doesn’t appear to be coming from Linus’s toys. I listen again, trying to localize the sound. I can’t figure it out. I’m more curious about what the heck it is than annoyed or worried by it. It’s not so loud that it’s disturbing Linus or my mother, and I’m sure I wouldn’t hear it at all from my bedroom. But what is it?
I cane, step, and drag myself into the kitchen and listen. The sound is definitely coming from in here. I open and close the refrigerator. Nope, it’s not that. I look across the floor, the table, and the counter for one of Linus’s trains. Everything is clean. No trains. No electronic toys. No cell phones. No iPods.
I look at the stove top. Nothing there. Then I remember to look left, and I see the teakettle sitting on a bright red burner, steam billowing out from its spout. I look across the counter again, this time remembering to scan left, and I notice my mother’s empty mug, the string and paper square from her tea bag hanging over the side.
My heart drops into my stomach, and my skin goes clammy. I turn the knob to Off and move the kettle to the right. The whistling stops.
I granny cane back into the living room. I listen. Everything is quiet. I sit on the edge of the couch next to my mother and know, even before I hold her hand, that she’s not sleeping.
CHAPTER 39
We sold our house in Welmont and moved to Cortland in June, after Charlie and Lucy finished the school year. Bob took the summer off, Charlie and Lucy spent mornings at the YMCA camp, all three kids played in the yard or swam in Lake Willoughby most afternoons, and I learned to kayak in the same lake through NEHSA’s summer recreation program. Even though my mother had always planned to spend the summer back at her own house on Cape Cod, it still felt strange to be here without her. I kept expecting to see her walk through the front door, for her to bring me the latest People, to hear the sound of her laugh. I still do. I had imagined making at least a couple of road trips with Bob and the kids to visit her over the summer. I’d imagined spending time with her on the beach, eating fresh tomatoes from her garden, meeting her Red Hat friends. And when we weren’t together with her on the Cape, I’d imagined that we’d Skype.
It’s now the first week of November, past peak foliage and mountain biking season and at least a month before there’s enough snow on the mountain. It’s a sleepy month in a town that’s drowsy all year, but I don’t mind. Bob and I are seated at our favorite table by the fireplace at Cesca’s. We didn’t need reservations, we didn’t have any trouble finding a parking space right in front of the restaurant, and we didn’t have to wait for our favorite table. We’re the only two people here, partly because it’s so early in the evening, but the place won’t fill up at any point tonight.
Bob slides a small white box across the table.
“What’s this?” I ask, not expecting a gift for this occasion.
“Open it,” he says.
We’re here to celebrate the anniversary of the day I survived my car crash. We’ve consciously chosen to make this a day of celebration and not a day of regretful What-Ifs—What if I hadn’t won the shoot? What if it hadn’t been raining? What if I hadn’t tried to use my phone? What if I’d looked up sooner? What if I hadn’t banged my head? We’re here to celebrate the life we have and not bemoan the life we’ve lost. But before I open Bob’s gift, I can’t help but reflect on both.
I miss my old job at Berkley. I miss Richard and Jessica, the brilliant consultants, the feeling of conquering a seemingly impossible day, staffing interesting projects, recruiting season, managing career development, and being really good at it all. But I don’t miss my old commute, the travel, the hours, and the stress that accompanied all of those.
I love my new job at NEHSA. I love Mike and the volunteer staff, a diverse group of people with the most generous hearts on the planet. I love the hours. I’m typically there from eight to noon, Monday through Friday, and usually put in five additional hours a week from home, but some days I work entirely from my living room couch. I love the work itself. It feels challenging and important. And I’m really good at it. I’ve been working there for two months now, and I haven’t had to cry yet. I don’t suspect that I will.
I don’t miss my dry-clean-only, button-down shirts and suits. NEHSA is strictly casual dress. I do miss my high heel shoes.
I miss my old paycheck and the sense of pride, power, and worth that it gave me. I make a lot less money now. A lot less. But what I’ve lost in dollars, I’ve gained in time. I have time in the afternoons now to help Charlie and Lucy with their homework, to play Wii with them, to watch Charlie’s soccer games, to take a nap with Linus. I can’t wait to spend afternoons snowboarding. I have time to paint a portrait of Lucy (my only child who will sit still long enough) or the apples we picked at the local orchard. I have time to read novels, to meditate, to watch the deer walk across the backyard, to have dinner every night with my family. Less money, more time. So far, the trade-off has been worth every penny.
Neither of us misses Bob’s old job. He found a position at Verde Inc. working to help an international list of clients develop economically favorable plans for converting to renewable energy sources. The company is young, smart, growing, and passionate about what they do, and Bob loves it. It’s located in Montpelier, about fifty miles from our house in Cortland, but it’s all highway, and there’s never any traffic, so it only takes him forty-five minutes, which is the same amount of time it used to take us to commute from Welmont to Boston (if the weather was good, if there weren’t any accidents, and if the Red Sox weren’t in town). Everyone there has been understanding of his need to leave the office early to help with me and the kids. He’s usually home by 4:00.
The elementary school here is wonderful. The class sizes are half what they were in Welmont, and the teachers in the special education program are working really well with Charlie. He can’t wait to start snowboarding with the school’s team this winter. Lucy likes her new teacher and loves Hannah, her new best friend. And Linus has adjusted without a hiccup to his new day care. Bob drives him there every morning before work, and either Chris or Kim from NEHSA brings him home for me at 2:00.
I miss Heidi. She promises to bring her whole family to Cortland over February vacation for a week of skiing and snowboarding.
I miss Starbucks. B&C’s is still closed. At least we have the Impressa.
I miss being able to do simple things easily, like reading, typing, shaving, getting dressed, cutting paper with scissors, putting a pillowcase on a pillow, fixing a shirt that is inside-out.
I miss driving and the independence that goes with it. Bob drives me to Mount Cortland in the mornings, and Mike or someone from NEHSA drives me home, but I miss being able to come and go without being someone else’s passenger.
A small percentage of people with Left Neglect do eventually recover enough to drive safely. Still unwavering in his encouragement, last Monday, before work, Bob pulled into the empty church parking lot and told me to give it a try. After switching places, I buckled my seat belt (something I never could’ve done six months ago), shifted from Park to Drive
, and eased my right foot from the brake to the gas. We only traveled a few feet before Bob yelled, Stop! I hit the brake, panicked but not understanding why. Look LEFT, he said. At first, I didn’t notice anything at all, and then there it was—the driver’s side door, wide open. So I guess I’m still not ready to drive. Someday.
I miss walking. I’m still cane, step, and dragging with my granny cane, but with much more confidence and a lot less drag, and I hope to progress to a regular cane soon. Hope. Progress. There is still both of those.
But of everything that I miss, I miss my mother most of all. What if I hadn’t won the shoot? What if I hadn’t banged my head? What if I hadn’t needed her help? What if she hadn’t offered it to me? I’m so grateful that I had the chance to know and love her before she died.
I lift the lid off the unwrapped box. My heart swells with emotion, and tears spill down my smiling cheeks.
“Oh, Bob, it’s beautiful.”
“Here, let me attach it for you.”
He reaches across the table and holds my left hand in his.
“There,” he says.
I waggle my shoulder and hear the jingle of my charm bracelet at my left wrist. Look left, scan left, go left.
I find my diamond ring and wedding band. Me and Bob.
Look left, scan left, go left.
I find my pink, plastic watch. My good friend, Heidi.
Look left, scan left, go left.
I find my silver charm bracelet and the three dime-sized discs. Charlie, Lucy, and Linus.
Look left, scan left, go left.
I see my gift from Bob. My new charm. A silver hat adorned with a single, bezel-set ruby. My mother.
“Thank you, honey. I love it.”
Our waitress brings us a bottle of Shiraz and asks what we’d like for dinner. We both order Caesar salads and the pumpkin ravioli. Bob pours the wine and lifts his glass.