Soon afterward, Joyce found a job. She began working outside the home, and Gabriel stayed at home with the children. He just loved it, seeing the children all day long; doing projects with the older ones and playing on the floor with the little ones; reading books; memorizing poems; playing games; building castles from blocks and attacking them afterward; going grocery shopping. He loved it when people would ask him, “Are all these children yours?” He would smile broadly, and declare, “Yes, isn’t that wonderful? The answer was always, “Yes, you have a beautiful family!” “They take after their mother,” he would say, suddenly missing her very much.
Every day, one hour before Joyce arrived home from work, Gabriel and the three older children would get to work, picking up toys and books, tidying the house, putting the last touches on dinner, and the music would go on. She would enter the house tired from work, exhausted from fighting traffic, then look around at her tidy home. She would hear the peaceful music, smell the aroma from the kitchen, see her husband’s happy face. Then she would see the children; they looked so precious in their pajamas. She ached a little at how much she had missed them.
One day, after she arrived home, she blurted out, “How do you do it?”
“What did you say dear? Gabriel, please lower the music. I can’t hear your mom. Thank you… What did you say my love?”
“How do you do this? I mean, you seem to have everything under control. You all are happy here, yet I am miserable. Now I am sad and lonely because I miss you all and miss home!”
It did not take Gabriel and Joyce much time till they decided that they wanted to be all together again, as a family. Joyce quit her short-lived job, and Gabriel began working from home. Soon they were doing everything together: going shopping; cooking; enjoying picnics, camping, reading, eating lunch and dinner together.
Again, Joyce smiled, recalling the happy change that had transformed their lives.
It was a gentle touch this time and not a voice that brought Joyce back to the present. A delicate small hand with a soft small cool towel dabbed Joyce’s forehead and cooled it.
Joyce remembered her baby Carmel who was now seven months old. When Carmel was two months old, she had high fever for two weeks. All Joyce did during those weeks was nurse her and put wet, cold towels on her small forehead. She did this all day and all night; she was so worried for her baby. After two weeks Carmel was fine and had not been sick since.
Suddenly anxiety and worry robbed Joyce of her smile. Who is taking care of my baby now? Who is feeding her and waking up at night to check on her and the other children? All of a sudden, the reality shook Joyce into thinking about the present. She trembled. My children need me, my husband needs me, and I need them… I love them… I can’t leave them just not yet…and to whom does this gentle hand belong? Who is it on the other side caring for me and loving me so?
Try as she might, Joyce couldn’t open her eyes. After a lot of work, she managed to lift her eyebrows just a little, then she heard the voice of the gentle young girl with the gentle hand.
“She is trying to open her eyes! Please try again – you can do it! We are waiting for you and we love you.”
***
Since that day Joyce was not able to rest or relax. She knew that she must find a way back home, back to her life, her husband and her precious little children but she was so confused that she couldn’t think clearly. She was so weak that she couldn’t move or even open her eyes.