Prism Perspective: Preamble

In the story to come, I shall call myself Mari.  It is not my real name, but will be my character name in the story.  Somehow there is a comfort to distancing myself so I can tell the story from no singular perspective.  A family story is really the richness of many persons' life journeys and perspectives.  I begin to host this story, as I was Nick's primary caretaker in the last years before his death.  It was something I formally committed to at about 21 years of age.  My parents asked me and my  husband to become Nick's caretaker in their elder years, as I had studied to be a special education teacher and my husband was Executive Director of the local ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens).  Though this was posed as a choice for me,  I could not even fathom any alternative.  Of course, I would be there to support Nick in whatever he needed throughout life.  That message had reached my heart many years before when I was born the younger sibling of a brother who life paralleled with mine in so many areas.