Family

Exhausted, he slumped against the wall, his head bowed.  Around him the hushed stillness of the time between midnight and sunrise settled, leaving him alone and isolated in his woe.  In the room behind him his wife of thirty years lay under the watchful eye of monitors.

The frantic dialing of 911, the urgent, controlled movements of first the paramedics and then the doctors when they arrived at the emergency room door had depleted him.

Down the hall he heard approaching footsteps and looked up.  To his relief his son and daughter had arrived to lend their love and support.