Changeover

This summer, I married a person I have been with for many years. He spends most of his time away from home, working nearly ten or more hours every day. I don’t know what is happening with him, and I am not sure if he will come home. He works at a mine, underground in a shaft. Accidents happen there every year—gas poisoning, rockslides, heavy machinery extracting minerals that might run over someone. The risk of death on such a job increases by 15%. When he is there, I long for him to return sooner—and I want to capture this return. His exhaustion after a hard day’s work, his emotions, his hands, the things that remember his shift and parallel his own life while he is away.