I settle into the bent-wicker chair on my lanai and try to relax. It’s a perfect island day, the temperature warm, the breeze cool, and I gaze out over the pool to the tops of the coastal mangroves. I’ve just come home from a shift at the local free clinic, and my mind is occupied by the work we did today. My fourth-year medical students encountered some difficult patients, and we struggled to get them the care they needed. In particular, I spent twenty minutes talking down an angry man with suicidal and homicidal ideation, and as I sink deeper into the fluffy tropical print cushions, I am wondering why I was not afraid. I would have been years ago, I think. I should have been today.
My mind buzzes with minutia. The dog needs a bath. The sheets and towels need washing. I must get to the grocery store. I have two stories I should write. I should go walk on the beach. As a pelican soars overhead, I say to my mind: freeze-frame.
freeze-frame n.
- A still image in a cinematic work made by showing a series of identical frames or by stopping a film or video at one desired frame, usually representing the suspension of action or time.
- A vivid, motionless scene or image.
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