Vote Frank — for Charlie

My husband Charlie is lying in bed unable to move.  He’s a baby when he’s in pain, so today I’m not taking my customary long walks, but rather just hanging out to feed him painkillers and muscle relaxants.

All this began on Saturday, a day that I promised to spend with Charlie, having returned a few days before from Ottawa, where I had spent most of a week at the Green Party convention.  Now, we don’t have days together when Charlie travels for a week, which happens with some regularity, but me being gone for a week is unusual enough that a day together was deemed necessary.

We spent our day romantically handing out flyers for Frank de Jong’s campaign in Parkdale-High Park in the rain.  I cannot say I recommend this as a date.  Coming down a sleek set of stairs with no handrail, Charlie flipped onto his back, breaking off the lower step and quite possibly cracking a rib.  We walked home very slowly on Saturday, with Charlie romantically grabbing my shoulder in his pincer-like grip every time he had a spasm.  Yesterday, properly medicated, Charlie was okay for most of the day.  Last night, every movement was painful.

This morning, Steve Downie, our friend and Charlie’s coworker, arrived for a breakfast appointment to which he had specifically requested that Charlie wear his pants, and was disappointed that pants were not an option and really, neither was breakfast.

Charlie has been instrumental in organizing the Danforth Greens website, this blog and much of the database.  He’s also incredibly tolerant of the fact that I don’t seem to have time for him anymore, often noting with satisfaction that he actually enjoys watching me get involved with things again after almost two decades of watching children.  He doesn’t complain that the house is turning into a pigsty, and he actually sometimes gets more excited than I am about my various causes.  He’s an important force behind the scenes who deserves some recognition.

If anyone reading this is a Parkdale-High Park voter, remember Charlie’s sacrifice for the Greens and vote for Frank de Jong in the provincial by-election.