Tag Archives: Week 13.15

Infinity

cold
morning
leaves swirling
thoughts drifting back
to my past struggles
a long and winding path
my heart scarred, my soul shattered
but life is full of surprises
fate placed us both in Oklahoma
two lives intersecting at point in time
forces cast us onto divergent paths
then looped us back to infinity
upon the wings of hope and trust
you healed my broken spirit
infusing me with strength
fresh blood in my veins
long story short
love and faith
rescued
me

Colleen Keller Breuning
September 30, 2023

Happy Saturday! This was a pretty daunting challenge this week. To make a long story short, I kind of built this piece around the word “Kalamazoo,” even though it doesn’t appear inside of my poem. My husband Dan is a Michigan man, born in Detroit and raised in Rochester. He went to college at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and it got me to thinking that I wish I knew him back then. But it would have been literally impossible.

You see, we were both on journeys in our lives that took us from faraway places and placed us smack dab in the middle of Oklahoma in 1982, working in the same office at Arthur Anderson & Co. accounting firm. We had completely different lives, I was married and he had a steady girlfriend at the time. Then the oil and gas bust occurred, and layoffs began to happen. He took a position in Ft. Lauderdale with Deloitte, Haskins & Sells and eventually I divorced, moved back to Maryland and transferred to the AA&CO Washington, DC office. It was a soul crushing experience, the commute was numbing, and I longed for something more meaningful. Then a mutual friend mentor, Joni Frye Way, reconnected Dan and I back in the late 80’s when there was no internet or cell phones. We talked on the phone and wrote letters to each other that summer. In the fall, I flew to Florida for a visit, we fell in love, and as the saying goes, the rest is history. It got me to pondering – we are an infinity loop! Our lives looped, met and returned to permanently intersect.

Dan truly did rescue me… I am grateful for his love and support during our 35 years of marriage. He is truly the love of my life and my best friend. I thank God for putting me where I had to be to change my path in life and to get to where I was destined to be. I am forever grateful for that.

The cycle of friendship is another aspect of infinity that I experienced this week. I was blessed to meet my best college buddy Susan Miles Schlossburg for lunch on Thursday, we dined at Magnolia’s and got caught up on life happenings. Then on Friday night, I drove up to Maryland and met up with a fantastic group of St. Mary’s Catholic School friends at Antietam Brewery, which included my VVBFITWWW (very very best friend in the whole wide world) Marianne Krepp Hess. We’ve been besties since Kindergarten, then I left SMCS after 5th grade and we reconnected the summer between 8th and 9th grade. We’ve been through the best and worst of times, and I love her so much. There were a few classmates that I’d not seen since 5^th grade, and it was just so wonderful to reconnect and share memories and life stories. Friendship can be forever!

Life is truly miraculous, if you put things in perspective. The secret is that you have to put forth energy, be positive and count your blessings of health, love and life. So go ahead, reach out and make that reconnection to someone. Life is far too short and precious. I hope you have a great weekend, friends and family! Love y’all!

xoxo
Colleen

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 13.15 – To Make a Long Story Short
Hard Bonus: Incorporate a line from the movie “Elephant Man” (“Life is full of surprises”)
Easy Bonus: Mention Kalamazoo