*Journey
New Mexico: High Road to Taos II
Watercolor by Robert Yackel
Journey
Day 17 — February 26
Robert Yackel always liked art in school, but all of his life, art was put on hold because of work and family and volunteering. He didn’t actually begin painting watercolors until his retirement in 1998. Even then it took him six more years until he entered an art show.
Elizabeth loved this painting titled High Road to Taos II. She loved the stylized rocks and sagebrush, outlined in black. She loved the unusual technique whereby the paint is stamped in a pattern of overlapping squares of various hues and intensities. She loved the vibrant southwest colors. She loved the highway that drew her in.
As I ponder the painting, I wonder about the unknown destination for the traveler journeying on that asphalt road. My imagination transports me to that place far down the road.
In literature, it’s called a prolepsis—when in a story the chronological order of the events is interrupted, and the narrative takes a journey into its own future before returning to the present and continuing on with the story line.
This day a year ago—Ash Wednesday it was in 2020—was my day of prolepsis, journeying into the future and encountering the ending to our story—an ending that I could not begin to understand or comprehend. After weeks of tests and treatments, there was no hope that Elizabeth would recover.
The matter-of-fact text message I sent to family members that day belied the depth of my feelings: Had initial conversations today with palliative care team about hospice. Many unknowns about this continuing journey.
Day 17: the art of love and loss
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February 10, 2020, was the day my wife, Elizabeth Izant, entered the hospital. She and I were on a hopeful journey following her heart transplant five months prior. On March 1, she entered hospice and died March 11. This series is not about her medical journey. This is about sharing stories and reflections about our life together. In our 29 years of marriage, we collected a piece of art or two each year, often in celebration of our marriage anniversary. Each day from February 10 to March 11, I will be sharing an image of that art. And a story.