The post-traumatic shock from living in Florida never goes away, yet part of me is forever attached to that eccentric, heat-infested swamp.

I’ve learned to lick
my own foul wounds
and prize the taste of ache.

The number seven is magical, they say. Seven years ’til our cells completely regenerate. Seven years ’til Jacob possesses Rachel, no, Leah, and seven more for Rachel. Seven days in a week. Post traumatic stress often resolves itself in toto only after seven full years have passed. Such is the case for some brain trauma patients too. Seven. It’s a number worth remembering.

Support our troops!” we cry, but I say, “Love our veterans!” And when he neglects church, take him cookies anyway. Sing him a song. Pet his cat.

When war is "over," it is never simply "over." The first war takes place during wartime. The second war, the far longer one, occurs when the fighting stops; this war is not over for years, most often for generations to come.

Notes

The Faithful Gardener (1995)

You are mistaken. The Nazis and their helpers were not from Germany. Gyava nepnek nics hazaja. Cowards have no country of their own. Those demons were from Hell."
Uncle Zevar
The Faithful Gardener (1995)
Clarrisa Pinkola Estes