Praetor

The big day of the mastectomy was 12 days ago. Everything went smooth. Now its only learning to live with the after effects of which one will be the results of the tests on the axillary glands. The other reminds me of a Bible verse that I have always found intriguing … and faithfully practised:

“Drink water from your own cistern,

And fresh water from your own well. …

Let them be yours alone,

And not for strangers with you. …

Let your fountain be blessed,

And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

As a loving hind and a graceful doe,

Let her breasts satisfy you at all times,

Be exhilarated always with her love.” (Proverbs 5 verses15,17,18-19).

Now after D-day it has taken on new meaning. Instead of two fawns feeding among the lilies, there is only one standing next to an ugly ridge cutting across a big flat space (excuse the pun). It is one thing to look at the flatness covered by nighties, but the first time I had to clean the wound and dress it for my wife, it was different to face the naked reality.

Suddenly you discover that beauty goes further than skin deep. She is still the wife of my youth in which I delight! My youngest son cannot think, or understand that I find his mother’s legs, covered with varicose veins, sexy. You see when I look at them I see the same sexy legs of the wife of my youth. After the op. she dyed her hair a light copper red. Now I am all over in love with the wife of my youth. When I met her she had copper toned hair when the sunrays caught it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

But the most attractive about her is that disarming smile and her sparkling eyes. They augment the softness of her personality. Nothing of this has changed. She is still the same person even without the twins of a gazelle (- just one fawn).