The True Investment
I didn’t go back to my empty apartment that night. I called my office and took an indefinite leave of absence. I didn’t care about deadlines, promotions, or the routine I had built to protect myself from reality. The only routine that mattered now was Maya’s treatment schedule.
The next three months were a grueling descent into the realities of oncology. I moved Maya out of her tiny, isolated room and back into a place where I could care for her. I learned how to manage her medications, how to cook the only foods her nauseous stomach could handle, and how to hold her through the terrifying middle-of-the-night fevers.
I became the man I should have been years ago—present, attentive, and fiercely protective.
