I lift the glass ball with its silver-green-red harlequin pattern from the well-worn cardboard box, the only one left from the dozen bought at Miracle Mart a lifetime ago. The baby—now a young man—doesn’t remember his dad except from photos. Wife to widow to wife. I stumbled through grief and loneliness before finding love again. Before reclaiming the joy of three stockings to hang, a reflexive humming of carols, cornball family traditions. Gingerly, I hang that old-fashioned orb of sparkle on a pine branch. Glass ornaments can shatter so easily. I don’t want to run out of miracles.
Karen Zey is a Canadian writer from la belle ville de Pointe-Claire, Quebec. She leads the Circle of Life Writers workshops at her community library. Website: www.karenzey.com Twitter: @ zippyzey