Though the darkness now is deep.

I was 21, my husband 23, newly married, desperately poor, amazingly happy and relatively worry free.

And Feisty the hamster died. He was a tiny white guy, lived in a cage, but we adopted him as a pet. Took him out, played with him, let him run up and down our arms and necks. We found him dead and were sad.

And the phone rang and it was my mother telling me that my Dad had a stroke related to his brain tumor and they would come to New York for treatment.

And the phone rang and a fellow student and friend had cut his wrists in his bathtub due to academic and personal stress. He was in the psych ward and his father would be taking him away for a while to recuperate.

And the phone rang and another fellow student, who was older and had his wife, five year old daughter and visiting mother at home had walked out on the freeway in front of a semi. The semi struck him and threw him unhurt into a tree, He was in the psych ward and we needed to go see him.

And the phone rang and the doctor’s office called to say my husband had a growth on his chest that could be cancerous.

And the sapphire that was in my husband’s ring fell out and was somewhere in the apartment and we needed to find it as it was a precious gift from my father in law.

And a big credit card bill came- almost $200 when our monthly salary was $800.

And our sixteen year old nephew was to stay with us for ten days in our one bedroom apartment while his parents travelled.

And we had exams and classes and graduate student work deadlines looming.

And I was 21 and he was 23 and our world was imploding.

And it was shadow, and then it was light.

We got a fish in a bowl.

And my Dad got better.

And the bathtub friend went to Spain and recovered.

And the semi friend went back home.

And the growth was natural.

And the sapphire was found.

And the bills were paid by a late wedding gift.

And the nephew was a doll.

And we passed our exams.

And the friends came by to share

And we listened to the songs we loved.

And the sun still shone and the moon still rose

And we lived and we learned.