My Parents Left Me in the ICU and Flew to Cancun Until I Saw the Same Name on the Visitor Log Every Night

was not in the chair beside my bed. No one had left a jacket thrown over the arm of it, no bag on the floor with my toothbrush and a change of clothes, no coffee cup cooling on the tray beside my water. There was only the water, and the machines, and a window showing a gray slice of San Diego sky.

A nurse came in while I was still taking this inventory.continue reading …