Gemotions

The sun, filtered through the blinds, cast stripes across the floor as I sat on the bed. My late husband, Thomas, was always a man of action. I had found his list hidden beneath a stack of maps.

"Climb Kilimanjaro." "Learn to sail." "See the Great Barrier Reef." The sheer ambition, the drive that had defined him, hit me like a physical force. Kilimanjaro... he'd talked about it for years, training, preparing. I had been so busy with my own life, I had hardly paid attention.

I walked over to the window, staring out at the world. I remembered his enthusiasm, his zest for life. I picked up his hiking boots, the ones he had planned to use. I knew that I could never climb a mountain, not without him.