I managed every appointment, every phone call, every moment of “Can you just handle this, babe? I’m bad with paperwork.”
Whenever my husband wanted to change jobs or “take a break and figure things out,” I sat down with spreadsheets and made it possible. I worked extra hours. I encouraged him. I never kept track of who gave more. I believed marriage was about teamwork and that things would balance out in time.
We’d been together for ten years. I truly believed our relationship was strong.
Then I was in a serious car accident.
I don’t remember the crash itself—just a green traffic light, then a hospital ceiling.
I survived, but my legs didn’t recover easily. They weren’t permanently paralyzed, but they were weak enough that I needed a wheelchair. The doctors were hopeful.
“Six to nine months of physical therapy,” they said. “You’ll need a lot of help at first. Transfers. Bathing. Getting around. No weight-bearing on your own for a while.”
I hated hearing that.
I’ve always been self-sufficient. I was the one who helped others, not the one who needed help. Still, part of me hoped this experience might bring us closer. When my father was injured when I was young, my mother cared for him for months without resentment. They joked. They were gentle. That’s what love looked like to me.
